


Conflict of Interest

by WeirdyMcWeirderton



Series: Gracilynn Series [2]
Category: Supernatural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-02-09 17:29:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 57,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1991574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeirdyMcWeirderton/pseuds/WeirdyMcWeirderton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Bring It On Home. After Sam lets out Lucifer, Gracilynn finds herself caught in the middle of her dad and uncle in an almost divorced parent situation. On top of fighting the Supernatural, ganking the devil, and coping with lost friends, Gracilynn tries to help piece her family back together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, without further ado, here is the sequel to “Bring It On Home”. This chapter and the following one will coincide with the first episode of season five, although I changed a couple things for my stories sake. After that, most of it will be like the first story, its own story. Hope ya’ll enjoy it!
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I do not own Dean, Sam, or anything else belonging to Kripke or Supernatural. I do, however, own Gracilynn.

“It’s been hours,” Gracilynn complains to Bobby from where she’s lying on the hotel bed, “They should be here by now. Why aren’t they here yet?”  
“Patience,” Bobby counters exasperatedly, “They were about five hours out. They’ll be here.”  
“What exactly did dad say on the phone?”  
“Not much. Just that they were five hours out and that they’d be here soon. He wouldn’t say much else,” Bobby replies, not taking his eyes off the book he is reading.  
“But he said they were okay right?” Gracilynn asks, jumping up from the bed and walking over to lean up against the wall next to Bobby.  
“Yeah. Why are you so worried? You know they’re okay,” Bobby asks in return, finally looking up at his surrogate niece.  
“A damn SciFi light exploded on the screen and the next thing I know the whole damn block is leveled. And you want to know why the hell I’m worried?” Gracilynn asks, annoyed, furrowing her eyebrows at him.  
“Your dad said both he and Sam were fine,” Bobby assures, holding her gaze for a moment before looking back down at the book on the table.  
“Yeah, and his reputation is all about telling people when he’s hurt,” Gracilynn says sarcastically, scowling and pushing off the wall and walking over to the sink.  
“He said Sam was fine. He wouldn’t lie about that.”  
“Yeah, but he would about himself.” Bobby sighs, leaning back in his seat and looking over at Gracilynn, knowing he’s not going to get any research done right now. They hear an engine rumble outside and they turn their heads to the window. Gracilynn rushes over and looks out the window nearby the sink.  
“That them?” Bobby asks her, watching her and waiting for her answer.  
“Thank God,” Gracilynn whispers, relieved when she sees her dad and uncle climb out of a car. They go to the trunk and grab their bags, not saying much to each other. Gracilynn watches as they climb up the stairs to their floor. Once she loses sight of them, she rushes to the door, flinging it open and heading out into the hallway, watching the end of it for her dad and uncle. She hears footsteps from around the corner, followed by her dad rounding said corner. A relieved grin spreads across Gracilynn’s face when she sees he seems to be okay. Dean looks up and sees his daughter standing in the hallway, silently checking her over to make sure she isn’t hurt. Gracilynn runs over and jumps into her fathers’ arms, hugging him tight for fear of losing him again. Dean drops his bag when he sees his daughter run to him, hugging her in return when she jumps into his arms.  
“Hey Gracie,” he whispers into her hair, squeezing her tighter. Gracilynn feels tears well up in her eyes when she feels her dad squeeze her tighter. She quickly gets control of her emotions and reluctantly pulls away from him. There is a noise behind them and Gracilynn looks past her father, seeing her uncle round the corner. Another relieved smile breaks out on her face as she walks over and gives Sam a big hug. Sam returns it, feeling relieved she’s okay.  
“Hey Smalls,” he says affectionately.  
“Hey Stilts,” Gracilynn returns, pulling away and looking at her uncle. Dean watches his daughter and brother, a bunch of emotions warring inside his head.   
“You guys okay?” Gracilynn asks, looking from her uncle to her dad.  
“We’re fine,” Dean replies. Gracilynn narrows her eyes at her father, not sure if she believes him. She looks over at Sam, deciding just like her dad not lying about him, Sam wouldn’t lie about her dad.  
“He fine?” she asks. Sam smirks, knowing exactly what she’s thinking.  
“Yeah, as fine as we’ll ever be,” Sam answers.   
“You Winchesters gonna come in or are ya just gonna stand out in the hallway?” Bobby asks, peering out the doorway at them. The Winchesters all look over at him, the older two glad to see he’s okay also.  
“Yeah, we’re coming Bobby,” Dean says as he leads the other two into the hotel room.


	2. Chapter 2

Bobby is sitting at the table looking through a book while Dean and Gracilynn are both sprawled out on a bed cleaning a gun and loading it and looking through a paper respectively. The motel room door busts open and Sam walks in, shutting the door behind him. He pulls something out of his shirt and tosses it at Dean, who catches it. He looks it over, trying to figure out what it is.  
“Here. Hex bags. No way the angels will find us with those. Demons, either, for that matter,” Sam explains.  
“Where’d you get it?” Dean asks. Gracilynn sits up and leans over her fathers’ shoulder checking out the bag herself. She looks up at her uncle when he begins to answer. Bobby sets his book down and listens carefully.  
“I made it.”  
“How?” Dean asks, looking at the bag still. Sam hesitates and Dean looks up at him.  
“I…I learned it from Ruby,” Sam answers, not sure how Dean will react. Dean puts the gun down, hands Gracilynn the hex bag, and walks over to Sam.  
“Speaking of. How you doing? Are you jonesing for another hit of bitch blood or what?” he asks. Gracilynn takes a closer look at the hex bag, making sure to listen to her father and uncles’ conversation.  
“I-it’s weird. Uh, tell you the truth, I’m fine. No shakes, no fever. It’s like whoever…put me on that plane cleaned me right up,” Sam answers, thinking about what had happened a few days ago.  
“Supernatural methadone,” Dean says. Gracilynn sets the bag down and looks over at her older counterparts.  
“Yeah, I guess,” Sam says, then pausing, looking over at his brother. “Dean…”  
“It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything,” Dean says, turning away, not wanting to talk about any of it.  
“Well, that’s good. Because what can I even say? ‘I’m sorry’? ‘I screwed up’? Doesn’t really do it justice, you know? Look, there’s nothing I can do or say that will ever make this right…” Sam says, staring at his brothers back.  
“So why do you keep bringing it up?!” Dean asks loudly, annoyed. Gracilynn stops herself from flinching at the raw hurt in her fathers’ voice. Sam sighs and Dean turns back around to face him.  
“Look, all I’m saying is, why do we have to put this under a microscope? We made a mess. We clean it up. That’s it,” Dean says, meeting Sam’s gaze. Sam nods in agreement. “All right, so, say this is just any other hunt. You know? What do we do first?”  
“We’d, uh, figure out where the thing is,” Sam answers, thinking about the steps they normally take on their hunts.  
“All right. So we just got to find…the devil,” Dean says, inwardly dreading this.  
“Yeah, that’ll be a piece of cake,” Bobby says, sighing.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

“All I’m saying is she was friggin’ creepy,” Gracilynn says to her dad and uncle.  
“No disagreement here,” Dean agrees, looking over at his daughter.  
“It wasn’t you she was touching,” Sam says, grimacing at the thought of Becky touching him.  
“More like groping,” Gracilynn corrects him, a smirk on her face as she looks pointedly at her uncle. Sam scowls in her direction. “It was kinda disturbing. Definitely won’t be naming any of my kids Becky.”  
There is a knock on the door and Dean walks over. Both he and Sam pull out their guns, Sam pushing Gracilynn behind him who just rolls her eyes at the action. Dean shares a look with Sam and slowly opens the door. He peers out then opens the door all the way, revealing Bobby standing in the doorway.  
“Hey, Bobby,” Dean says, “You weren’t followed were you?”  
“You mean by angels, demons, or Sam's new superfan?” he asks with a smirk. Sam laughs along with Gracilynn.  
“You heard?” Sam asks, glancing at Gracilynn, knowing she was the one who had talked with Bobby earlier.  
“I heard Romeo,” Bobby says, looking directly at Gracilynn. “So…Sword of Michael huh?”  
“You think we're talking about the actual sword from the actual archangel?” Dean asks, closing the hotel room door and turning to look at Bobby.  
“You better friggin' hope so,” Bobby says, opening a book to a painting of Michael surrounded by other angels. Gracilynn walks over and squeezes in between the men to get a better look at it.  
“That's Michael. Toughest son of a bitch they got,” Bobby explains, pointing to an angel in the painting.  
“You kidding me? Tough? That guy looks like Cate Blanchett,” Dean says, raising an eyebrow at the girly looking winged man.  
“Hey, she was kinda creepy in Lord of the Rings,” Gracilynn points out, looking up at her dad.  
“Seriously?” Dean asks her, looking down at her, “You watched it?”  
“Yeah, so?” Gracilynn counters, shrugging and looking back at the painting.  
“It’s like the poster movie for all geeks,” Dean points out, still looking at his daughter.  
“Dude, it a story about good being the underdog, overcoming all odds and ganking evil,” Gracilynn argues, looking back up at Dean. Dean looks at her, bewildered, eyebrows raised, then, looks up at his brother.  
“Stop turning my daughter into a geek will ya?” Dean says to his brother. Bobby and Gracilynn roll their eyes.  
“Well, I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley, believe me. He commands the heavenly host. During the last big dust-up upstairs, he's the one who booted Lucifer's ass to the basement. Did it with that sword,” Bobby says, steering the conversation back on topic and pointing to the sword in the picture. “So if we can find it...”  
“We can kick the devil's ass all over again. All right. So, where do we start?” Sam asks, ready to fix his newest mistake.  
“Divvy up and start reading…try and make sense of Chuck's nonsense,” Bobby answers, waving a hand at a pile o books. Sam gets up and heads over to a pile of books Bobby brought. Instead of reaching for them, he just stares at them.   
“Kid? You all right?” Bobby asks, turning to look at Sam. Sam turns around and faces Bobby.  
“No, actually. Bobby, this is all my fault. I'm sorry.”  
“Sam…” Bobby starts, giving Sam a knowing look.  
“Lilith did not break the final seal. Lilith was the final seal,” Sam continues, full puppy-dog eyes in effect.  
“Sam, stop it,” Bobby orders, fixing Sam with a gaze.  
“I killed her and I set Lucifer free,” Sam says, looking pointedly at Bobby.  
“You what?” Bobby asks, confused at the confession.  
“You guys warned me about Ruby, the demon blood, but I didn't listen. I brought this on,” Sam explains. Bobby gets up and walks towards him. Dean and Gracilynn say nothing, just watch.  
“You're damn right you didn't listen. You were reckless and selfish and arrogant,” Bobby scolds, stopping when he is a foot away from Sam.  
“I’m sorry,” Sam says, his eyes full of self-loathing guilt.  
“Oh, yeah? You're sorry you started Armageddon? This kind of thing don't get forgiven, boy. If, by some miracle, we pull this off...I want you to lose my number. You understand me?” Bobby continues to scold, anger in his voice and on his face. Sam just nods.  
“There's an old church nearby. Maybe I'll go read some of the lore books there,” Sam says, grabbing his things.  
“Yeah. You do that,” Bobby says. Gracilynn watches Sam walk out the door before looking at Bobby, surprised at what he has just said.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Gracilynn sits on the back steps of the motel. She needed to get out of the room; the tension was making her claustrophobic. She needed to think about everything; sort through it and get her head on straight. She hears footsteps, a lot of them, and she looks up to see a group of people walking towards where she is sitting. There is a woman and a couple men with her. She watches as they walk by her, the woman smiling at her as she does so. Gracilynn feels a knot form in the pit of her stomach at seeing it. She watches them until they disappear around the corner. She is startled from her reverie by her phone ringing. She takes it out of her pocket and answers it.   
“Hello?”  
“Gracilynn? Sweetheart, are you okay?”  
“Grandma?” Gracilynn asks, confused, furrowing her eyebrows.  
“Yeah, it me hun. I saw the news. Please tell me you weren’t involved in any of that,” she asks through the speaker.  
“Um…no, not really,” Gracilynn answers hesitantly.  
“Was your father and uncle?”   
“Grandma, I’m fine. We’re fine,” Gracilynn says, skirting the question. This is the last thing she needs to deal with right now.  
“Maybe you should come stay with us for a little while,” her grandma says, worry in her voice.  
“I can’t do that,” Gracilynn replies, shaking her head even though she knows her grandma can’t see it.  
“Why? Because of your grandfather?”  
“No,” Gracilynn says, looking out across the parking lot, “Well, maybe a little. But that’s not the main reason.”  
“Then what is?”  
“I can’t leave dad. He needs me right now. More than ever,” Gracilynn says, her eyes catching a 1962 Plymouth driving by. “I won’t leave him when he needs my help. He wouldn’t do that to me.”  
“Just tell me you’ll think about it?”  
“My mind’s not gonna change Grandma,” Gracilynn says, sighing in frustration.  
“Just promise me you’ll think about it,” she urges.  
“Fine, I’ll think about it,” Gracilynn reluctantly agrees as she hears a crash from behind her. Gracilynn whips her head around in that direction. “Listen Grandma I’ve gotta go.”  
Gracilynn hangs up the phone before her grandma answers and puts it in her pocket. She hurries over to where the sound came from only to find the door to their motel room busted open. Gracilynn grabs her knife from her boot and sneaks into the room. The room is trashed, the two men she saw earlier lying motionless on the floor. The girl she saw is lying next to her father who is bent over a bleeding Bobby.  
“Uncle Bobby!” Gracilynn yells, earning her fathers’ attention. “Dad?”  
“Call Sam!” Dean yells. Gracilynn nods her head and grabs her phone hitting the speed dial number for her uncle.  
“Uncle Sam? You need to come back here. Uncle Bobby’s hurt. Really bad,” she says into the phone. She nods her head and then disconnects the phone call, pocketing her phone and running over to her dad and Bobby.


	3. Chapter 3

I thought my Uncle Sam drinking demon blood and going through detox and dad dealing with all of that was bad. This? This just might be worse. As if things weren’t bad enough, we find out Uncle Bobby will never walk again. On top of that, we find out dad is the Michael Sword. As if that wasn’t bad enough, dad flat out told Uncle Sam he doesn’t trust him anymore. I think that’s the worst of it, dad not trusting Uncle Sam. Their whole relationship was built on trust. I mean, without that, there is no Dean and Sam. Just Dean and just Sam. Things were out of control before, but now?   
Gracilynn looks up to the front seat of the Impala where her dad and uncle are sitting, each looking out their own windows, Dean the windshield and Sam the passenger window. Neither one of them had said a word since…well since Dean said he couldn’t trust Sam anymore. Gracilynn sighs and looks back out her window. Dean hears this and looks in the rearview mirror at his daughter. He knows the tension between he and Sam is getting to her, but he just can’t forgive and forget that easily. Sam trusted a demon over his own brother. Something like that takes some time to heal.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

“All right, so walk me through this,” Dean says to Sam as he sits at the table.   
“Well, there’s been thirty two deaths in the last ten years all within the Lake Superior area,” Sam answers as he reads off the information he gathered, “All of the victims were in some sort of community service like the police department, FBI, CIA, or were in military at some point.”  
“Did the cops find anything?” Gracilynn asks, looking over at her uncle.  
“Do they ever?” Dean asks, glancing at his daughter. Sam rolls his eyes.  
“I made an appointment with the coroner handling the recent cases,” Sam says, setting the papers down.  
“Does the paper say when they were all attacked?” Gracilynn asks, climbing off the bed and going over to the table herself.  
“Only that every attack happened at night,” Sam says, grabbing the newspaper and bringing it in front of him, “Papers aren’t giving much in information.”  
“Then I guess we’ll have to talk to the victims’ families, witnesses, the coroner,” Dean says, walking away towards his bed and taking a seat.  
“Were there even any witnesses?” Gracilynn asks, sitting in the chair her dad just vacated.  
“Two, but one committed suicide and the other one took off. No one knows where he went,” Sam says, reading from the paper. Gracilynn glances over at her dad and sees his lie down on the bed.  
“When’s the appointment with the coroner?” Dean asks as he puts his arms behind his head and closes his eyes.  
“Tomorrow at nine,” Sam answers, glancing over at his brother.  
“Then I guess we’ll start with the families then,” Dean says, still not moving from his position. Sam nods his head in agreement, closing up his computer and gathering all of the information he found, putting it in a pile. Sam grabs a change of clothes and disappears into the bathroom. Dean looks over at the table and, seeing Sam is gone, gets up and walks over to it. He quickly grabs the pile of information and hands it to his daughter.  
“Do me a favor and check over this will ya,” he says. Gracilynn takes it, looking at her dad curiously.  
“Dad?”  
“Just do it, all right,” Dean says, heading over to his own bag. Gracilynn looks at the pile of papers in her hands, her gaze shifting to the closed bathroom door and then over to her father.  
“You’ve never doubted Uncle Sam’s research before,” Gracilynn says, calling her dad out.  
“Like you said, that was before,” Dean says, pulling out his handgun and checking it over to make sure it’s clean, not once looking up at his daughter. Gracilynn bites her bottom lip but begins looking over the information anyways.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Dean pulls up to the two story house, parking the Impala and climbing out. Sam follows suit, both of them shutting their doors behind them. Gracilynn climbs out of the car herself, earning a look from her father. She puts her hands up in surrender.  
“I’m not coming in, I promise. It’s just eighty something degrees out here and I’m not sitting inside the car while you two go in and pull your little manipulating stunts,” she says.  
“We don’t manipulate,” Dean says defensively, scowling at her.  
“Then what do you do?” Gracilynn asks, crossing her arms, raising her eyebrows at him.  
“We just don’t tell the whole truth,” Dean says, conviction. Sam smirks slightly.  
“Yeah, that’s called lying. And lying to get what you want is called manipulating,” Gracilynn says, giving her father a smug look.  
“Just stay by the car,” Dean says not sure if he’s more annoyed or amused that his daughter got him.   
“Scouts honor,” Gracilynn says, saluting her father. Dean shakes his head and leads his brother up to the door of the house. Gracilynn smirks and climbs on the hood of the Impala and stretches out.   
Ten minutes later Gracilynn looks up at the sound of the front door opening. She sees a young girl about her age shutting the door behind her and taking a seat on the steps, obviously distressed. Gracilynn decides to take advantage of the situation and climbs off the car and walks over to the girl, stopping in front of her.  
“Hey,” she says, looking down at the girl, “You okay?”  
“Yeah,” the girl says, staring at a spot on the sidewalk in front of her.  
“You sure?” Gracilynn asks, cocking her head slightly. The girl looks up at her and Gracilynn sees her eyes are red and her face is wet from the tears. “My name’s Gracilynn.”  
“Tori,” the girls says after a moment of studying Gracilynn. She moves over a little and Gracilynn sits down next to her. “So do you normally talk to random people crying on their front steps?”  
“No,” Gracilynn says, smirking a little and looking at the sidewalk in front of her, “I was waiting for my dad.”  
“Where is he?” Tori asks, looking over at Gracilynn.  
“Inside,” Gracilynn says, shooting a thumb over her shoulder and looking over at Tori.  
“Your dad’s one of the agents talking to my mom?” Tori asks, scrunching her eyebrows. Gracilynn nods her head. “He the tall one or the pretty one?”  
“The pretty one,” Gracilynn says after snorting in amusement.  
“I thought we were done with this whole crap,” Tori says as she plays with her fingers, looking down at them.  
“Your dad was the one who was murdered?” Gracilynn asks carefully, watching Tori closely.   
“Yeah,” Tori answer, sniffing.  
“It’s gotta suck not knowing what happened,” Gracilynn says softly, giving her a sympathetic look before looking over at the Impala.  
“That’s the problem. I know what happened,” Tori says, looking over across the street. Gracilynn’s head whips in her direction.  
“What?”  
“I was there,” Tori says, looking over at Gracilynn, “I wasn’t supposed to be, but I was.”  
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Gracilynn asks, shaking her head and furrowing her eyebrows in confusion.  
“Because no one will believe me. They’ll think I’m crazy,” Tori answers, quickly looking away and shaking her head.  
“Tori what happened,” Gracilynn says, tilting her head to try to get Tori’s attention. Tori shakes her head, not willing to tell her. Gracilynn takes a deep breath and tries her best to channel her uncle. “Tori.”  
Tori looks over at Gracilynn and Gracilynn gives her the complete puppy dog eyes. Tori studies her for a second but then decides that she can trust her and caves in. She takes a deep breath and begins telling Gracilynn what happened.  
“My mom was at work. She was catering a party. My dad was home. I was supposed to be at a friends’ house but I had forgotten my bag. When I got home, all the lights were off. I assumed my dad went to bed early so I made sure I was quiet when I came inside. I heard banging around upstairs so I went up there to see what was going on. When I walked into the hallway I saw my dad bang into the wall opposite of his bedroom. Next thing I know, he’s jerking as if he’s being struck by something. He slid down the wall and didn’t move. I ran over to him and saw he was bleeding from multiple wounds on his chest and stomach. They looked like arrow holes,” Tori says, tears beginning to fill up in her eyes.  
“What do you mean looked like?” Gracilynn asks, furrowing her brow.  
“There was nothing there,” Tori says desperately, looking at Gracilynn and pleading for her to not think she’s crazy. “Nothing that would make the holes. It was like they were invisible or something. I heard something behind me and when I turned around there was…”  
“There was what?” Gracilynn gently prods when Tori doesn’t continue.   
“This…” Tori begins, trying to find the words, studying her hands as if they have the answers. “It looked like a skeleton.”  
“A skeleton?” Gracilynn asks, confused, her eyebrows scrunching together.  
“Yeah,” Tori answers, nodding her head. She looks over at Gracilynn and only sees genuine curiosity and determination on her face. “A walking skeleton; it had this really thin skin. You could see right through it. And its eyes were glowing red where the sockets were in the skull.”  
“Okay,” Gracilynn says slowly, mentally cataloguing everything Tori is saying.  
“You think I’m crazy don’t you? That I’m suffering from PTSD or something?” Tori asks, deflated, taking the change in Gracilynn’s demeanor the wrong way.  
“No,” Gracilynn assures her, shaking her head. She looks over at Tori, her face full of determination again “I believe you. Don’t worry, we’ll find this thing. We’ll kill it.”  
“I can’t stop seeing him in my head,” Tori says, fresh tears running down her cheeks. Gracilynn rests a hand on Tori’s shoulder.  
“I know how you feel,” she says. Tori looks at her disbelievingly. Gracilynn continues, swallowing her emotions. “I saw my mom get murdered last year.”  
“You did?” Tori asks, her eyes widening and her eyebrows raising.  
“Yeah, and my dad ga…got the guy that killed her,” Gracilynn says, looking out across the street, getting lost in her memory before turning to look at Tori again. “Just like he’ll get this one.”  
“It wasn’t human,” Tori says suddenly, sitting up straighter, sure of herself. “The thing that killed my dad.”  
“Neither was the thing that killed my mom,” Gracilynn says, nodding her head in understanding, “We’ll gank this thing. Trust me.”  
“Aren’t you afraid your dad’ll get hurt…or killed?” Tori asks, furrowing her eyebrows and studying Gracilynn.  
“Every day,” Gracilynn says softly, glancing at the Impala. Suddenly the door behind them opens up and Dean and Sam walk out, seeing Gracilynn sitting on the steps with Tori.  
“I thought I told you to stay by the car,” Dean says, looking down at his daughter. Gracilynn looks back at him.  
“We were just talking,” Gracilynn says, getting up, brushing her pants off.  
“All right, let’s go then,” Dean says, heading towards the car, Sam following him. Gracilynn pulls out a piece of paper and a pen, writing something down on it.  
“Here. It’s my number in case you remember anything else or need to get a hold of me,” Gracilynn says, handing it to Tori.   
“Thanks,” Tori says, accepting the piece of paper. Gracilynn gives her an encouraging smile and heads over to where her father and uncle are waiting.


	4. Chapter 4

“I’ve got it,” Sam says triumphantly, eyes wide in victory.   
“You found out what’s killing all these people?” Gracilynn asks, looking up from her book. Dean looks up also, listening to what Sam has to say.  
“Yeah, it’s a Baykok,” Sam answers, reading from his computer.  
“A what cock?” Dean and Gracilynn ask simultaneously, smirks on their faces.  
“A Baykok,” Sam says, not looking up from his screen so he doesn’t see the twin looks of amusement on their faces, “It’s a creature from Chippewa folklore. It’s a walking skeleton covered in thin translucent skin and with glowing red eyes. And it only preys on warriors. It kills with either a club or invisible arrows.”  
“Which is what prolly happened with Tori’s dad,” Gracilynn says, sitting up straighter, “We should look into the deaths see if anyone was clubbed to death. It’s possible this thing has killed more than we know.”  
“You sure about this?” Dean asks Sam skeptically, narrowing his eyes at him.  
“Yeah,” Sam says, giving his brother a curious look.  
“I don’t know,” Dean says. Sam resituates himself in his chair and looks at his brother, eyes narrowing at him in turn. Gracilynn gets up and looks over her uncle’s shoulder at the computer screen. She reads through the information and nods her head in agreement.  
“Uncle Sam’s right,” Gracilynn says, looking over at her father. “It looks like it’s a Baykok.”  
“Does it say how to kill the damn thing?” Dean asks, accepting his daughters’ word easily. Sam tilts his head, looking at his brother accusingly.   
“No, but it says it’s a night spirit,” Gracilynn says, reading through some more information. “So, if it’s a spirit, there should be bones to burn right?”  
“Unless the skeleton it’s walking around with is its bones,” Dean points out, raising his eyebrows at her.  
“Ew, that’s gross,” Gracilynn says, scrunching up her face. Sam is still looking at his brother with the accusatory look.  
“Can I help you Sam?” Dean asks, noticing his brothers’ look. Gracilynn looks over at her uncle, wondering what’s going on.  
“You don’t trust my research anymore,” Sam accuses, holding his brothers’ stare.   
“Why would you say that?” Dean asks, taking out his gun and pulling it apart to clean it.   
“You sure didn’t doubt anything your fifteen year old daughter said,” Sam continues to accuse, tilting his head slightly.  
“You really surprised about this?” Dean asks, this time looking up at his brother with a steady stare.   
“I said I was sorry Dean,” Sam says loudly, aggravated. Gracilynn steps back a little, watching the argument start to unfold.  
“And I said I couldn’t trust you Sam,” Dean yells back, waving a hand in the air, “If your judgment went bad to where you trusted a demon over me, then how do I know that your judgment in research hasn’t gone downhill?”  
“Dean,” Sam shouts, his look darkening as he starts to get angry, “It hasn’t!”  
“Really? How do you know?!” Dean asks, tilting his head and his jaw tensing.  
“Because it was fine even when I was with Ruby!” Sam shouts, a scowl on his face.  
“Well, I’m sorry if I can’t take your word for it,” Dean declares, looking down at his gun again.   
“Dean,” Sam says his own jaw tensing.  
“Sam,” Dean warns, looking back up at his brother, a glare aimed Sam’s way. Sam’s mouth shuts, knowing this fight isn’t going anywhere.  
“I’m going to go get dinner,” Sam announces, getting up from his seat and exiting the motel room. Gracilynn watches her uncle leave. When the door shuts, she finds herself biting her bottom lip. She looks over at her father who is cleaning his gun, his focus fully on what he’s doing.  
“Dad…” Gracilynn hesitantly starts.   
“Leave it Gracilynn,” Dean says, looking up at his daughter and giving her a firm look. Gracilynn studies her father. She nods her head and forces a swallow, getting up and heading to the bathroom.

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“So, how are we gonna kill this thing?” Sam asks, looking over at his brother and niece.  
“We’re gonna Molotov the sucker,” Gracilynn speaks up from the back seat.  
“Really?” Sam asks, glancing back at his niece.  
“That’s what dad said,” Gracilynn says, shrugging her shoulders.  
“How are we going to get the thing to come out?” Sam asks, looking at Dean, hoping he’ll start talking to him again. He hadn’t been since their fight earlier.  
“I’ll draw it out,” Dean replies, starring out the windshield.  
“So, you’re going to be bait,” Sam rewords, not liking this idea as he studies his brother.  
“Yeah,” Dean says, still refusing to look over at Sam, “And then you’ll kill it when it comes after me.”  
“Or me,” Gracilynn says, looking up over at her father.  
“Or you what?” Dean and Sam ask at the same time. Dean glances at her in the rearview mirror while Sam looks back at her over the seat.  
“Or I’ll kill it,” she says, glancing between her dad and uncle.  
“No way,” Dean says firmly, shaking his head, “You’re waiting in the car.”  
“Remember the last time you made me wait in the car?” Gracilynn asks, raising an eyebrow and holding her dad’s gaze.  
“That’s low,” Dean says, scowling at her before glancing at the road.  
“Dude, it goes after warriors,” Gracilynn says, leaning forward and leaning on the back of their seat, “If it’s going to go after you for being a hunter, then its’ going to go after me and Uncle Sam too. Why have me be somewhere by myself?”  
“She’s got a point Dean,” Sam says, looking over at his older brother. Dean grips the steering wheel, knowing his family is right. He lets out an irritated sigh.  
“Fine, but you stay right next to Sam, the whole time,” Dean firmly says, looking at his daughter in the rearview mirror, annoyed at having to give in.  
“Of course,” Gracilynn says, then, holds up her pinky in the air, “I pinky swear.”  
Dean rolls his eyes, looking back out the windshield as Sam smirks in the passenger seat. Gracilynn smiles to herself, happy she won this argument. She sits back in her seat and stares out her window, waiting for them to get to their destination. 

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“Why isn’t it here yet? Isn’t this thing supposed to go after warriors?” Gracilynn whispers impatiently to her uncle, keeping her eyes on her father.  
“Patience Gracilynn,” Sam says calmly and quietly, “It’ll come.”  
“It’s been three hours,” Gracilynn whines, sighing in boredom and looking over at her uncle.  
“You just make sure you’re ready,” Sam says, his head whipping towards his brother when he hears a sound. Gracilynn immediately shuts up and stares out towards her father as well, having heard the sound also.  
“Uncle Sam?”  
“Sh,” Sam says, holding a hand up to halt his niece. The two of them wait and watch. They see Dean tense up, hearing the sound again. Gracilynn looks off in the direction of the trees and bushes and her eyes grow wide.  
“There it is,” she says, pointing in the direction she’s looking. Sam looks over at the tree line seeing a skeleton with red eyes appear and stealthily make its’ way towards Dean. The two of them creep out of the bushes they were hiding behind and make their way towards the Baykok. The Baykok raises his arms and suddenly, Dean jerks, letting out a loud grunt.  
“Dad,” Gracilynn almost shouts, her eyes growing wide at seeing Dean fall to the ground, holding his shoulder.   
“Dean!” Sam shouts, running towards the Baykok, his niece running after him. When Sam gets close enough to the Baykok, he throws the Molotov bottle at it. The Baykok, dodges it, raising its arms again. Gracilynn shouts out a warning but is too late. Sam jerks and grabs his arm.   
“Son of a Bitch,” Gracilynn says, eyes wide as she looks at her uncle. She looks over at the Baykok and sees it walking towards her father. It raises its’ arms again. Reacting quickly, Gracilynn grabs her bottle and lights it, chucking it at the Baykok and hitting it square in the chest. There is a loud shriek as the Baykok goes up in flames. Gracilynn covers her ears, followed by Sam and Dean. Just as it started, the shrieking stops. Gracilynn looks up and sees a pile of ash in the middle of the clearing, smoke rising from it.  
“Another one bites the dust,” she says, a cocky smirk on her face. She looks over at her father when she hears a groan. Dean is pushing himself up to a kneeling position, using his other hand to put pressure on his arm. Gracilynn quickly jogs over to him and helps him up to his feet.  
“You get it?” he grunts out, glancing over at her.  
“Yeah,” Gracilynn replies, looking at her dad’s shoulder.  
“You okay?”  
“‘M Fine,” Gracilynn grunts under her fathers’ weight.  
“Sam?” he asks, staring down at a spot on the ground in front of himself.  
“Um…” Gracilynn says, looking up and seeing her uncle getting to his feet and leads her dad towards him. Once there, Dean looks up at his brother, silently checking him over.  
“You okay?”  
“Yeah, ‘m good,” Sam responds, nodding his head, holding a hand over the wound in his arm.  
“All right, can we go now?” Gracilynn asks, glancing over at the pile of ash once more.  
“Yeah, we can go,” Dean grunts out. Gracilynn leads them to the car, only realizing the predicament they were in when they got there.  
“Um…” she starts. Dean and Sam look over at her.  
“What?” they ask in unison.  
“Who’s gonna drive?” she asks. Dean and Sam look at each other, realizing the same thing as Gracilynn.   
“I will,” Dean says determinedly, forcing himself to stand up straighter.  
“What?” Sam and Gracilynn ask simultaneously, raising their eyebrows and looking at Dean.  
“Dude, you can barely move your arm,” Gracilynn says, cocking her head.  
“I’ll drive,” Sam says, holding out his hand for the keys.  
“You?” Dean asks, shaking his head, “You got stabbed in the arm too.”  
“At least I can move it,” Sam argues back, giving his brother a pointed look. The two of them stare at each other, at a standstill.  
“Fine,” Dean finally caves, scowling at Sam, “But if you wreck my car, I’ll kill you.”  
Sam flinches, but only Gracilynn notices. Her eyebrows scrunch together, but she leads her dad to the passenger seat and gets him in the car, Dean grumbling the whole time. Gracilynn climbs into the back seat as Sam climbs into the front, starting up the car. Sam puts the car into drive and pulls out of the park parking lot. As Sam turns onto the road, Dean looks over at him and sees him flinching, biting his lip against the pain.  
“Jesus Sam, you shouldn’t be doing this either,” Dean says, shaking his head.  
“Who the hell else is going to do it?” Sam asks, scowling at Dean. The two of them look at each other, silently coming to the same solution. Dean turns and looks at Gracilynn while Sam looks at her in the rearview mirror. Gracilynn looks up at them, not sure what to think.  
“What?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.  
“You wanna learn how to drive?” Dean asks reluctantly, an almost painful expression on his face. Gracilynn’s eyebrows raise higher as Sam pulls the car over and shuts it off.  
“I’m only fifteen,” she points out, studying her father’s body language. Dean shrugs, trying to play this off nonchalantly.  
“You’re gonna let me drive the Impala?” she asks surprised, thinking this is too good to be true. There has to be a catch. A pained expression, not due to his arm and shoulder, appears on Dean’s face again. There is a silent moment before he answers.  
“Yeah,” Dean says reluctantly, a grimace on his face. Gracilynn’s eyes narrow. “Listen, I can’t drive, and neither can Sam. Well, we could…if she wasn’t stick shift.”  
“You’re seriously gonna let me do this?” Gracilynn asks, not wanting to get her hopes up.  
“Will you just get your ass in the drivers’ seat before I change my mind,” Dean says impatiently, scowling at her. A smile spreads across Gracilynn’s face as she hops out of the back seat, switching with her uncle.  
“Put your seat belt on,” Dean orders, strapping himself in. Gracilynn obliges then, follows the instructions her dad gives her next. “Check all of the mirrors; make sure you can see the road. Check the seat. Are you close enough to reach the pedals?”  
“Yeah,” Gracilynn says as she moves the seat forward a little.   
“Okay, turn the key and start the car,” Dean says, pointing at the keys in the ignition still. “When the car starts, let go. Please don’t hold it there.”  
Gracilynn turns the engine over and when she hears the car rumble to life, let’s go of the key. Dean breaths out a sigh of relief not sure if this is a good idea. Sam quickly puts his own seat belt on. Gracilynn looks over at Dean, giving him an excited grin. Dean returns it with a very nervous one.  
“Look in your rearview and side mirrors for any cars coming,” Dean says, pointing at said mirrors. Gracilynn does just this. “See anything?”  
“Nope,” Gracilynn responds, continuing to check them.  
“Okay, put your left turning signal on and look behind you,” Dean says, pointing in the general direction of the turning signal. “If there are still no cars, step on the clutch with your left foot and push on the gas with your right and ease out onto the road, releasing the clutch.”  
“Okay,” Gracilynn says, following the directions, keeping her focus on what she is doing. Dean holds his breath, waiting for an accident to occur in his baby. Gracilynn eases out onto the road and pushes on the gas. Not knowing how much pressure to put on the pedal, she pushes too hard and the car revs forward.  
“Holy shit,” Dean says, grabbing the dashboard with his good arm. Sam grabs the back of the front seat, cursing under his breath.  
“Sorry,” Gracilynn says, immediately taking her foot off the gas pedal. “Sorry.”  
“It’s okay. We’re okay,” Dean says, not sure if he’s assuring his daughter or himself more. He closes his eyes and takes a couple deep breaths. “Just push on the gas a little and gently speed up.”  
“Okay,” Gracilynn says, doing just that.   
“We’re going to die,” Sam says from the back seat, forcing himself to let go of the front seat. Gracilynn glares at him through the rearview mirror for a split second, not wanting to take her eyes off the road for too long.   
“No one’s gonna die,” Dean assures, “At least I don’t think so.”  
Gracilynn looks over at her father and glares at him. Dean’s good hand is gripping the door handle and he looks over at her, meeting her eyes. His own eyes grow wide.   
“Do not take your eyes off the road,” Dean practically shouts at her.   
“All right, all right,” Gracilynn says, annoyed at the dramatics. Sam closes his eyes, willing for this all to be over.

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“Slowly pull into the parking lot,” Dean says, his voice strained as he tries to stay calm, “Slowly.”  
Gracilynn slowly pulls the car into the parking lot of the hotel. She drives it over to the parking space her dad points out, completely clear of any cars around it whatsoever. She slowly pulls into the spot, stepping on the clutch and brake pad. The car jerks forward as she pushes on it too hard. Sam grunts from the back seat as Dean grabs the dash board, his eyes closing momentarily.  
“Sorry,” Gracilynn says sheepishly, glancing over at her dad.  
“Just,” Dean says, taking a deep breath, “Put the car into park.”  
Gracilynn moves the shift into park and lets off the clutch and break and looks over at her father, waiting for his instructions.  
“Key, Gracie,” he says, holding out his hand, his eyes still closed and taking deep breaths.   
“Oh, yeah,” Gracilynn says, turning the car off and taking the key out of the ignition. She hands the keys over to her father who very gladly takes them from her.   
“Thank God that’s over,” Sam says, climbing out of the car, followed by Dean and Gracilynn.  
“It wasn’t that bad,” Gracilynn says, pouting and crossing her arms.  
“Gracie, if I had the choice of going through that again or going up against a werewolf weaponless, I’d go up against the werewolf,” Sam says, grimacing at the thought of going through that ordeal again.  
“You’re such a drama king,” Gracilynn complains, scowling at the two men in her life.  
“You’re right on that,” Dean says, nodding his head in agreement. Gracilynn gives her dad a look that says, “thank you.” “But I’d go up against a whole pack of werewolves weaponless instead of going through that again.”  
“You two are such babies,” Gracilynn says defensively, her scowl deepening. Dean unlocks the room with his good hand and leads the troop inside, shutting the door behind him. “Now what?”  
“Now,” Dean says tiredly, “You patch us up.”


	5. Chapter 5

It had been a week since the Baykok fiasco and now that Dean and Sam’s arms are beginning to feel better, Gracilynn finds herself in the backseat of the Impala watching as the scenery flies by. Gracilynn smirks to herself. She didn’t do half bad at patching her dad and uncle up, with a little guidance from her dad of course. She and her dad and uncle were pretty impressed at how well she did. Her dad and uncle on the other hand? Well, let’s just say they’re horrible patients. Gracilynn stifles a laugh at listening to the two of them complaining at her bedside manner. Fact is, Gracilynn was being extra careful because one, she didn’t really know too much about what she was doing. And two, she didn’t want to hurt either one of them any more than they already were. Now? Now they were heading away from that God forsaken town Bobby sent them to, to help Rufus out. Gracilynn didn’t know why, but she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach from the whole ordeal, and her bad feelings usually don’t happen for no apparent reason. Gracilynn watches outside her window as the sky begins to darken. She yawns and rests her head on the door next to her. Dean looks at her in the rearview mirror and sees she is ready to go to bed. Sam looks back and sees it to.   
“Hey, you can grab my sweatshirt in my bag back there and use it for a pillow if you want,” Sam says over his shoulder. Gracilynn looks up at her uncle and nods her head. She grabs his duffel from the floor board and opens it up, shoving things to the side until she eventually finds the grey sweatshirt he’s talking about. She yanks it out and, closing up Sam’s duffel, rolls the sweatshirt up into a ball and lays her head down on it. Gracilynn closes her eyes, wishing she had a blanket, because no matter how hot it is, she needs some sort of blanket on top of her. She hears her dad moving around in the front seat and she secretly wonders what he’s doing but is too tired to look.  
“Here, use this,” Dean says. Gracilynn forces herself to open her eyes and look at what her dad is handing her over the back of the front seat. Gracilynn gently smiles and grabs the over-shirt from her father and drapes it over top herself. Gracilynn curls into the shirt and buries her head in to the sweatshirt underneath her, letting out a soft contented sigh. 

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Gracilynn slowly comes aware of her surroundings. She listens carefully, not wanting to open her eyes just yet. She is obviously still in the Impala but it’s not running and listening closer, her dad and uncle are definitely not in the car either. She hears cars though, not a lot, but a few. She resituates herself, feeling her uncles’ sweatshirt under her face and her dad’s shirt over her back. Dean had seen it was all tangled up on the floorboard and had straightened it out and laid it back over her before he and Sam left the vehicle. Gracilynn finally decides she needs to open her eyes and they flutter open. She squints, the bright morning sun overpowering her eyes. She rolls over and tries again, this time not being blinded by the sun. She sits up and looks around seeing a lake on her left and a road on her right. There’s a place for cars to pull off the road and park to enjoy the scenery. Gracilynn looks towards the lake and sees a few picnic tables, one of them occupied by her dad and uncle. Gracilynn moves to exit the car when she sees her uncle stand up and grab his duffle bag. Her eyebrows furrow. Why does he have his bag? She watches as Sam walks away from her father, but instead of walking towards her, he walks towards a truck waiting ahead of her. The awful feeling in the pit of her stomach returns in full force.  
“No,” she whispers, “No, no, no.”  
Gracilynn quickly climbs out of the car and takes a couple steps towards her uncle, only to see him ride off in the truck. Gracilynn feels her eyes begin to sting as she stands there and stares at the spot the truck once stood. Gracilynn tries to get herself together by taking a couple deep breaths and forces herself to look at where her father is sitting. Dean is watching the scene before him, but when Gracilynn turns to look at him, silently begging him to bring Sam back, he feels his own eyes begin to sting and he has to look away. Gracilynn sniffs and wipes her eyes. She looks back in the direction the truck went, hoping it will appear; that her uncle decided he couldn’t leave them and decided to come back. But she has no such luck. Gracilynn looks at the ground and kicks at the dirt, looking all of four years old, and shoves her hands into her pockets.   
“You ready?” Dean asks his daughter, having gotten control of his emotions and made his way over to the car. Gracilynn looks up at her dad and sees him standing by the drivers’ side door, keys in hand, looking at her and waiting for her okay. Gracilynn shrugs, but climbs into the backseat anyways. No way is she climbing into the front; that is her uncle’s spot. The Impala rumbles to life and as her dad pulls onto the road in the opposite direction of Sam, Gracilynn sends up a silent prayer that her family will get back together again.

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Dean and Gracilynn stumble in to the motel room, dumping their bags on the floor next to their beds, Gracilynn taking the one farthest from the door. They had driven, okay so Dean had driven, all day and a good part of the night. They were exhausted and just wanted to get into bed. Gracilynn begins searching through her duffle bag and begins pulling clothes out of it for bed. A piece of paper falls out of her bag as she pulls her pajama pants out. Gracilynn looks at it curiously for a minute before she picks it up. Looking at it, she sees that it has her name on it. There is a sharp intake of breath when she realizes it’s her uncles’ handwriting. Gracilynn looks over at her father to see if he noticed, but Dean was too busy putting salt lines down. She quickly shoves it in her pocket and grabs the rest of her clothes.  
“I’m gonna go take a shower before bed,” Gracilynn says, already heading to the bathroom. Dean looks up at this, seeing his daughter disappear in to the bathroom and the door shut behind her.  
“Um…okay?” he says, confused at the sudden announcement, but then mumbles, “You never take showers before bed but yeah, sure, go right on ahead.”  
Dean finishes laying the salt lines down and starts getting ready for bed, listening to the shower run. 

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Once she shuts the bathroom door behind her, Gracilynn turns the shower on. She wasn’t really in here to take a shower; she just needed to be able to read the letter from her uncle in private. Gracilynn locks the bathroom door and takes a seat on the toilet and stares at the piece of folded up paper in her hands, not sure if she wants to open it. Uncle Sam did leave without saying goodbye. Gracilynn makes up her mind and slowly opens the letter and begins reading it. 

 

Shorty,  
I know you’re probably really pissed off right now. I don’t blame you; I left without saying goodbye. But it was the best thing for me to do. Dean doesn’t trust me. Hell, I don’t trust myself. And because of that, I couldn’t stay. I was a danger to Dean and to you and I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to either one of you because of me. So, I had to leave; which is why I couldn’t say goodbye to you. I knew if I did, you’d give me those stupid puppy dog eyes that I taught you and most likely throw in some tricks Dean taught you when he wasn’t thinking straight, and then I wouldn’t be able to do it. You’re my niece Gracie, and I love you. So, even if Dean and I aren’t really talking too much, you damn well had better call me every now and again. Be safe, and look out for your dad for me. See you around Smalls. 

Sasquatch

 

Gracilynn reads the letter over a few more times, feeling her eyes sting and water. There is a knock on the door and Gracilynn jumps slightly, looking towards it.  
“Gracie? You alright in there?” Dean asks, “You’ve been in there for almost forty-five minutes.”  
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Gracilynn says, hearing a slight tremor in her voice. She mentally kicks herself, hoping her dad didn’t hear it. Of course, this is Dean Winchester we’re talking about and naturally he does pick up on it.   
“Yeah?” he asks skeptically, “You sure?”  
Gracilynn closes her eyes, quickly building up her walls and shoving the emotions down the best she can. She stands up, shoving the note back in to her pants pocket.  
“Gracie?”  
“Yeah, dad. I’m fine,” Gracilynn says stronger, turning off the shower water, “I’ll be right out. Give me five minutes.”  
Gracilynn quickly gets undressed and throws her pajamas on. She grabs the letter from her jeans and tucks it into the pocket of her pajama bottoms. Grabbing up her clothes, Gracilynn unlocks the door and opens it. Standing directly in front of the door is her dad, looking at her. More like studying me. Dammit it! He heard it.   
“Sorry, it’d been a while since I’ve actually gotten a hot shower,” Gracilynn mumbles, squeezing past her father and throwing her clothes on top of her bag. Dean nods his head, but then stops. He looks closely at his daughter. Spent almost forty-five minutes in the shower and you’re hair is as dry as the Sahara desert? Gracilynn feels her fathers’ eyes on her and she quickly climbs into bed and curls up in the covers.   
“Yeah, all that hot water must’ve felt really nice in this heat,” Dean says, “Ya know, especially when you washed your hair.”  
“Yeah, I guess it did,” Gracilynn says, confused at the comment, “Night dad.”  
“Night,” Dean responds as he climbs into his bed again. Gracilynn snuggles into her bed a little deeper, causing her hair to fall into her face; her dry hair. Shit, I’m friggin’ clueless. Gracilynn lets out a “Yup, I’m caught” moan, causing Dean to smirk in his bed.


	6. Chapter 6

Gracilynn rolls over in her bed only to have the light from the window shine into her face. She slides down into the bed and yanks the covers up above her head, letting out an annoyed groan.   
“Oh, look at that, sleepy head decided to grace us with her presence,” Dean says. Gracilynn rolls her eyes from under her covers picking up on the fact her dad said ‘us’ and not ‘me’. Even he’s not used to not having Uncle Sammy here. “Stop rolling your eyes.”  
Gracilynn’s eyebrows furrow and she throws the covers off her head and pushes herself up so she leans on her elbow and looks at her dad. He’s sitting at the table on a computer, taking a sip of his coffee. There’s a bag of breakfast food in the middle of the table and a crumpled up wrapper from what must’ve been her dad’s breakfast on the table next to him.  
“Really?” she asks, annoyed that he knows her so well already.  
“I think I found us a hunt,” Dean says, not looking away from the computer screen, “Why don’t you drag yourself outta bed.”  
“I guess,” Gracilynn says, flopping back down on her bed and sighing.  
“Eat a little breakfast,” Dean continues, nodding at the bag on the table, “Maybe take that shower?”  
“Yeah, yeah,” Gracilynn says, annoyed he remembered she really didn’t take a shower last night. She climbs out of bed and sits down next to her father, grabbing the bag and pulling out a breakfast sandwich. Dean silently hands her a cup and continues reading the computer. Gracilynn takes a bite out of her sandwich and then grabs the cup, trying to peer inside it.  
“Don’t worry, the poison’ll only make you sick for a few days; won’t actually kill you,” Dean says, not taking his eyes from the computer.  
“Ha-ha, you’re so funny,” Gracilynn says sarcastically. She takes a sip and, realizing its iced tea, takes a bigger sip.  
“So…” Dean says, glancing at Gracilynn before looking back at the information on the screen. Gracilynn forces herself to not roll her eyes. Her dad could be so predictable. Whenever he wants to try to talk to her, he always starts the conversation off with ‘so…’. Instead of answering, Gracilynn continues eating her sandwich. Not hearing an answer, Dean looks up at her again. Seeing she obviously doesn’t want to talk about it, he decides to switch tactics. “A word of advice. You might want to change how you take showers. Normally, in order to get clean and all good smelling, you kinda gotta get in the shower.”  
“No wonder I can never pick up guys,” Gracilynn says with a smirk, “And here, I thought it was because of you and Uncle Sam. I should try it some time.”  
Dean snorts, clicking a few buttons on the computer and waits for it to shut down. He looks back up at his daughter and waits for her to continue, but she finishes her sandwich without looking up at him.  
“You wanna talk about it?” Dean asks.  
“No, not really,” Gracilynn says after she swallows. She takes a big gulp of her iced tea and gets up.  
“Good,” Dean says, smirking, “‘Cause I really didn’t want to do another chick-flick scene with you again. I’ve had my share for the next ten years.”  
Gracilynn rolls her eyes. She gets up from the table and grabs a change of clothes, this time fully intent on actually taking a shower. As she heads to the bathroom, her dad speaks up.  
“Seriously though,” he says, “You okay?”  
“No offense dad, but you never really talked to me about fall outs between you and Uncle Sammy so why would you start now?” Gracilynn points out. Dean isn’t sure what to say to that. He knows this whole separation thing would get to her, but there seems to be something more going on. Obviously whatever it is deals with Sam, but there’s something more on top of everything else. God, I sound like a dad who is separating from his wife. Dean hears a door shut and he is snapped out of his thoughts. Gracilynn is nowhere in sight, but the bathroom door is shut, the light on, and the shower turned on. Dean sighs to himself and gets up, beginning to pack his things for their long ride ahead.

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“So where are we headed?” Gracilynn asks her dad as they drive down the road in the Impala. Dean grabs a few papers and hands them to his daughter who takes them from him. Gracilynn looks at the papers in her hand and then up at her father, eyebrow raised.  
“What?” Dean asks.  
“Three pages?” Gracilynn asks, “You sure you didn’t get a headache from all this research?”  
“Look, I’m not Dr. Research,” Dean replies defensively, the ‘like Sam’ at the end of the sentence hanging in the air. “‘Sides, we don’t even know what it is yet. I just got all the info I could find on the disappearances.”  
“Yeah that’s usually what happens,” Gracilynn says, even though she knows it’s a bad judgment call she adds, “Uncle Sam always found more info than this.”  
“Just read the damn info will ya?” Dean says, trying to control his annoyance.  
“I can’t,” Gracilynn says, “I’ll get motion sickness.”  
“Really?” Dean asks, glancing over at her.  
“Why do you think I always listen to your conversations and ask questions instead of reading the research?” Gracilynn asks in return.   
“I just figured you were being lazy,” Dean admits. Gracilynn looks at him with a “What” look. “Dude, you’re my kid. Why do you think I always left the research to Sam?”  
“True,” Gracilynn says in agreement, nodding her head. She glances down at the paper, taking a quick look to see where they were headed. “Florida?”  
“Yeah,” Dean says, looking over at his daughter curious at the disappointment in her voice.  
“Awesome,” Gracilynn says sarcastically, scowling.   
“You have got to be the only person I know who would be disappointed at going to Florida,” Dean points out with a smirk.  
“Dude, the spiders down there are like the size of the Impala’s hubcaps,” Gracilynn practically yells, her eyes wide.  
“They aren’t that big,” Dean says, giving Gracilynn a look, rolling his eyes at her exaggeration.  
“Close enough!” she replies with annoyance. Dean studies her face for a moment before he looks back at the road. Suddenly, the smirk grows on his face.  
“Wait, are you scared of spiders?” Dean asks, finding this amusing and looking back over at Gracilynn.  
“How long till we get there?” Gracilynn asks grumpily, crossing her arms over her chest.  
“You are,” Dean says, grinning, seeing right through the topic change.   
“So? It’s not that big of a deal,” Gracilynn says defensively, sending a scowl in his direction, “You’re scared of mice.”  
“No, I don’t like mice,” Dean points out, glancing at the road before looking back at his daughter, “There’s a big difference.”  
“Look there’s a diner up ahead,” Gracilynn says, pointing to a small white building.  
“You’re changing the subject again,” Dean says, not bothering to hide his amusement but looks where she’s pointing anyways.  
“No,” Gracilynn says, knowing her father is right, “I’m hungry.”  
“We just ate like two hours ago,” Dean says, glancing over at his daughter who is giving him a ‘seriously?’ look. Dean sighs. “Fine, we’ll stop to grab something to eat.”  
Dean pulls into the parking lot and parks the car. He and Gracilynn climb out of the car and make their way to the door. Dean holds the door open, trying to hide a smirk as his daughter begins to enter the diner.  
“Careful, there’s a spider hanging there,” Dean says off-handedly.   
“What?!” Gracilynn yelps, springing backwards and looking in the doorway for the spider. She hears her dad laughing next to her and she looks over at him, sending him a glare.  
“Jerk,” Gracilynn says, punching her father in the arm before she enters the diner. Dean chuckles as he follows her inside, rubbing his arm where she punched him. Damn, she packs a punch. A proud smile finds its’ way across his face. That’s my girl.

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“Okay, so there’s been ten missing persons within the past six months. All male, all in the marshes,” Gracilynn says, reading the research her dad did earlier, sprawled out on the bed.  
“Yeah,” Dean says, nodding his head. He’s sitting in a chair, his feet on the table in front of him.   
“So, what? Is it like a Maid of the Mist?” Gracilynn asks, scrunching up her face, “Or whatever it’s called.”  
“I think that’s a boat up in Niagara Falls,” Dean says, smirking, looking over at her.  
“No, wait, it’s a willow of the mist,” Gracilynn says, not taking her eyes from the papers in front of her.  
“It’s pronounced will-o-the-wisp,” Dean says, his smirk growing.  
“Whatever,” Gracilynn says, dismissing it, thinking he sounded just like Uncle Sam saying that.  
“Maybe, it’s worth checking into,” Dean says, watching his daughter look through the research, “We need to talk to the victims’ families and the cops.”  
“Okay,” Gracilynn says, glancing over at him and climbing off the bed.  
“When I say we, I mean I,” Dean says, standing up and grabbing his keys.  
“But…” Gracilynn starts, stopping and looking over at her dad.  
“No one’s going to believe a fifteen year old is looking into this,” Dean says, raising his eyebrows and holding her gaze, “You stay here, see what you can come up with.”  
“Seriously? You’re sticking me with research duty?” Gracilynn asks, not quite whining, her eyebrows raised.  
“Trust me, you’ll live,” Dean says, not quite laughing, exiting the hotel room.

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Gracilynn is sitting at a table in the hotel, a book open in front of her and a pile of books sitting next to her. She feels her phone vibrate and looks at the caller ID. She lets out an annoyed sigh and, getting up and pacing, answers it.  
“Hey grandma,” she says, knowing exactly why she’s calling.  
“Hey sweetheart. How’s everything going?” her grandma asks.  
“Great,” Gracilynn answers, not wanting to get into the whole mess between her dad and uncle with her.  
“That’s good,” Harriet says, a silence enveloping the line.  
“What do you want grandma?” Gracilynn sighs, still pacing the room, looking down at the rug.  
“That’s no way to talk to your grandmother,” she scolds.  
“Grandma,” Gracilynn warns, stopping her pacing and pinching her nose. She hears her grandmother sigh on the other end of the line.  
“Sweetheart, you should come home,” her grandma says.  
“I am home grandma,” Gracilynn says, rolling her eyes and looking up at the ceiling.  
“It’s not safe there anymore,” she says.  
“I’m as safe as I’ll ever be here,” Gracilynn counters, beginning to pace again.  
“Gracie Bear,” her grandma says. Gracilynn outwardly cringes at the baby name.  
“Grandma, I’m not leaving my dad. He needs me now more than ever,” Gracilynn argues, running a hand through her hair.  
“I thought you said everything was great?” Harriet asks.  
“It is. It’s…complicated,” Gracilynn says cryptically, stopping her pacing and sitting on the edge of her bed.  
“Your dad can’t take care of you anymore,” her grandma says just as cryptically. Gracilynn’s eyebrows furrow.  
“What the hell are you talking about grandma?” Gracilynn asks, angrily. There is silence on the other line. “Grandma!”   
“We had a man come and visit us a day before I called you last,” she replies. Gracilynn waits somewhat impatiently. “He said you would be in danger if you stayed with your dad and uncle.”  
“Seriously?!” Gracilynn yells, jumping to her feet, scowling in anger. “I’m fine grandma. What did this guy look like?”  
“He was tall,” says Harriet. Gracilynn arches an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. “About your dad’s height I think. He had graying hair and he was bald up top.”  
“Did he look kind of like a mouse?” Gracilynn asks, already knowing the answer, biting her bottom lip.  
“Now that you mention it, yes, he kind of did,” Harriet answers.  
“This is just great!” Gracilynn yells, throwing her hands in the air. Harriet makes a noise on the other end of the phone at the yell. Gracilynn puts the phone back to her ear. “Don’t believe anything he says.”  
“Hun, do you know who that man was?”  
“A junkless douchebag,” Gracilynn growls, her free hand clenching into a fist.  
“Gracilynn!” Harriet scolds.   
“Grandma, you can’t trust him,” Gracilynn reiterates, beginning her pacing again.  
“Well, I wish I knew that before,” Harriet says.  
“What do you mean?”  
“Well, he said he was a friend of yours,” explains her grandmother, “Well, your dads. He had asked where to find you.”  
“You told him?!” Gracilynn says, halting and putting the pieces together. That’s how they found us at the storage locker she thinks. Gracilynn hears the hotel room door open and close behind her.  
“Listen I have to go,” Gracilynn says, aggravated, turning so she’s not facing her dad. Dean sets a couple of bags on the table.  
“Gracilynn,” Harriet quickly says.  
“What?” Dean sits down and begins looking at the research Gracilynn acquired.  
“You’re sure you’re okay?” she asks.  
“I’m fine,” Gracilynn retorts, scowling and rolling her eyes. Dean forgets the research and looks up at his daughter, eyebrows narrowed.  
“You’d tell me if you weren’t right?” says Harriet.  
“Sure Grandma,” Gracilynn says nonchalantly, trying to placate her. “I gotta go.”  
Gracilynn says good-bye and hangs up her phone, shoving it in to her pants pocket and turns around to see her dad watching her. Gracilynn ignores the look he’s giving her and takes a seat across from him and begins digging in the bags. Dean watches her for another second then speaks up.  
“So, grandma?” Dean asks, not sure if he was hearing things.  
“Yeah,” Gracilynn says, unwrapping her sub.  
“What’d she want?” Dean asks, looking down and pulling out his own sub and unwrapping it. Gracilynn takes a bite to stall, not sure if she should tell her dad. She looks up and sees him watching her again, eyes beginning to narrow, knowing what she is thinking. Gracilynn swallows, then, sighs, knowing she can’t lie to him, not now.  
“I guess Zach visited them,” Gracilynn begins but Dean interrupts her.  
“What?!”  
“Dad,” Gracilynn says, not so annoyed, trying to calm him down. Dad clamps his mouth shuts and waits. “He told them that I was in danger if I stayed with you and Uncle Sam.”  
“Why would he say that?” Dean asks, furrowing his brow. Gracilynn gives him a look that says, ‘If I knew I would’ve told you’. “Right.”   
“She…uh…” Gracilynn starts, looking down at her sub. Dean looks up from his own sub.  
“What?”  
“I guess she told him where we were,” Gracilynn says, cringing as she waits for the blowout.  
“What?” Dean says loudly, already getting up out of his chair.  
“No not now,” Gracilynn says quickly, standing up and holding up a hand to calm him down, “A while ago. Like just before the whole storage locker thing.”  
“Oh,” Dean says, coming to the same conclusion as his daughter. Dean holds up the pile of papers in front of him. “So, what’d you find out?”  
“It’s could be a will-o-the-wisp,” Gracilynn says, sitting back down in her seat, “Or it could be an Abere.”  
“A what?”  
“An Abere,” Gracilynn says, taking a bite out of her sub.  
“What kind?” Dean asks, smirking.  
“Labatt,” Gracilynn says, humoring her father and smirking herself.   
“What’s the difference?” Dean asks, finally sitting back down in his seat and taking a bite out of his own sub.  
“Well, they both lure people into the marshes and they end up getting lost and disappearing,” Gracilynn says, reaching over and putting one of the papers in front of her father.  
“That would be the same, I want the difference,” Dean says, looking at her and raising an eyebrow.  
“I’m getting there,” Gracilynn says, rolling her eyes, “The difference is that a will-o-the-wisp is a ball of light and an Abere is a hot chick.”  
“My bets on the hot chick,” Dean says, looking down at the paper Gracilynn had put in front of him.  
“Why do you say that?” Gracilynn asks, raising her own eyebrows.  
“Because,” Dean says, looking over at her, “All the victims were men.”  
“Good point,” Gracilynn says, nodding in agreement.  
“It say how to kill it?” Dean asks, looking back down at the papers in front of him.  
“No, I figured I would go to the library and look around,” Gracilynn says. Dean nods in agreement.  
“Sounds good,” Dean says. Gracilynn looks up at this.  
“You’re coming with me right?” Gracilynn asks, staring at him until he answer.  
“Well,…” Dean says, scrunching up his face.  
“Dude! If I have to do this, then so do you!” Gracilynn argues, scowling at her father, “You already got out of doing the rest of it.”  
“Alright, alright,” Dean gives in, putting his hands up in mock surrender, “I’ll come.”  
Gracilynn smiles proudly to herself, taking another bite of her sub. Dean rolls his eyes and follows suit, taking another bite of his own sub.


	7. Chapter 7

A couple hours later finds Dean and Gracilynn sitting at a table in the library, books scattered on top of it. They have been searching for a way to kill the Abere, but so far have come up empty. Gracilynn frustratingly closes the book she was reading.   
“Nothing?” Dean asks, looking up from his book. Gracilynn shakes her head as Led Zeppelins’ “Over the Hills and Far Away” begins blaring from her pocket. She quickly takes out her phone and silences it, earning a glare from the librarian. Gracilynn looks down at the caller ID and a small smile plays on her mouth.   
“I need to take this,” she says, quickly wiping the smile from her face. Dean sees this and stores it away for future reference. Gracilynn gets up and begins walking away, answering her phone as she does so.  
“Be careful,” Dean calls after her, earning a glare of his own from the librarian. Dean shoots her a grin that would normally make women melt; the librarian, however, only huffs and goes back to her work.   
“I’m just stepping outside,” Gracilynn says, the phone up to her ear, “I’ll be fine.”  
Once outside, Gracilynn is able to freely talk to the person on the other line. She finds a little spot around the corner of the building where no one will eavesdrop on her conversation.  
“Hey, Uncle Sammy,” she says into the phone as she leans up against the building.   
“Hey squirt,” Sam says, “How’re things going?”  
“Fine,” Gracilynn answers, the silence afterwards saying there is something more to the story.  
“Dean actually let you out of his sight?” Sam asks her, a grin in his voice.  
“Yeah, well, he doesn’t really have a choice does he?” Gracilynn says, looking across the street at the people going in and out of the coffee place, “I’ve been helping him on this case.”  
“Lucky you,” Sam says, waiting for Gracilynn to say more. Gracilynn bites her bottom lip, looking at the ground. She takes a deep breath and begins talking into the phone.  
“My grandmother called earlier today,” she says, glancing down the street.  
“Yeah? What did she want?” Sam asks, not sure where Gracilynn is going with this.  
“I guess Zach visited her and my grandfather. Said I was in danger if I stayed with dad and you,” Gracilynn says, looking back down at the ground where her foot is digging at the dirt.  
“What do you mean?” Sam says, “You didn’t tell her I’m not…Why would you be in danger?”  
“I don’t know why. It makes no sense,” Gracilynn says, then, adding, “No, I didn’t tell her you weren’t here. It’s none of her business. It’s between our family.”  
“She say anything else?” Sam asks.  
“She told Zach where we were,” Gracilynn says, glancing up when someone walks by her, “Back when Meg and the others came.”  
“Oh,” Sam says, connecting the dots himself. The line goes silent and Sam knows there is something more to the story. “And?”  
“And what?” Gracilynn asks trying to play off that there is nothing else.  
“What else did she say?” Sam asks.  
“Nothing,” Gracilynn says, resting her head up against the building behind her and closing her eyes.  
“Really? Because I think she did,” Sam calls Gracilynn out.  
“How would you know?” Gracilynn asks in turn, started to get a little defensive, lifting her head up and opening her eyes.  
“Because you’re too quiet,” Sam says, “And you’re starting to get angry and defensive. Which is exactly what your dad does when he’s hiding something.”  
Gracilynn sighs in defeat, knowing she is caught and there is no way around it.   
“She was trying to get me to go live with her,” Gracilynn reluctantly says, looking back down at the ground, noticing the divot her foot has created . There is silence on the other end of the line.   
“What did you tell her?” Sam asks finally.  
“I said I wasn’t leaving,” Gracilynn says, looking back over at the coffee shop. “Dad needs me…”  
“What? Now that I left?” Sam asks, feeling slightly on the defensive.   
“Now that you aren’t around all the time,” Gracilynn corrects him.   
“So, you’re not pissed at all that I left?” Sam asks.  
“Yeah, I’m pissed,” Gracilynn says, pushing off the building and walking a few steps, staring at the ground, “But, I don’t ever really have a say do I? ‘Sides, I have to believe that you two will figure this all out.”  
“You’re pretty optimistic for a Winchester,” Sam says.  
“Why? You wanna know what I’m really thinking?” Gracilynn asks, scowling at the library parking lot.  
“No,” Sam says, “Not really?”  
There’s a long pause before Sam speaks up again.  
“How’s he doing?”  
“Fine, considering,” Gracilynn says, shrugging even though her uncle can’t see it, “But, ya know, he has a cell phone. You can call him and talk to him yourself.”  
“Yeah, sure,” Sam says, both of them knowing that probably won’t happen. There is a beep and Gracilynn looks at her phone, seeing she has a text from her dad.  
“Hey, I gotta go. Dad’s starting to get impatient,” Gracilynn says after putting the phone back up to her ear.  
“Yeah, okay,” Sam says, “Bye.”  
“See ya,” Gracilynn says, hanging up her phone. She looks at the text, reading it, “Dude, where are you?” She sighs and texts him back, “I’m coming, chill out.” Gracilynn goes to put her phone away but thinks better of it. Instead, she texts her uncle, “Hey, by the way, you know how to kill an Abere?” This time, Gracilynn does put her phone away, after putting it on vibrate, and goes back into the library. She sits back down in her seat next to her dad and grabs another book. Dean looks over at her, watching her.  
“What?” Gracilynn asks, feeling Dean’s eyes on her.  
“So, who was so important you had to ditch me with all the research?” Dean asks, raising his eyebrows. Gracilynn shrugs.  
“I didn’t ditch you. I came back,” she replies, pulling a book towards her and opening it up, “I just had to take the call.”  
“You didn’t answer the question,” Dean points out, continuing to stare at her, “Who called?”  
“Uncle Sam,” Gracilynn mutters, flipping through the pages of her book. Dean’s eyes narrow.  
“Sam? Why’s he calling you?” Dean asks, completely forgetting why they’re at the library now.  
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because I’m his niece,” Gracilynn says irritated, looking up and scowling at her dad.   
“He could’ve called me. No reason for you to get caught up in all this,” Dean grumbles, sitting back in his seat and looking down at his book.  
“He never even talked about that,” Gracilynn says, annoyed that her dad is giving her such a hard time about it, “He just called to see how I was doing. He still cares dad.”  
“I know,” Dean says off-handedly. Gracilynn rolls her eyes.  
“Besides, I’m already caught up in this,” Gracilynn says, looking back down at her book. Dean looks over at his daughter.  
“No you’re not,” he argues, holding her gaze, “This is between me and Sam.”  
“Exactly, between my dad and uncle,” Gracilynn argues back, not backing down from her dad, “Both of whom I’m really close with. Whether you like it or not, I am stuck in the middle of this.”  
“How’s he doing?” Dean asks after a long pause. Gracilynn smirks slightly at the repeated question.  
“Fine, considering,” she answers, then adds, “You know he does have a cell phone. You can call and ask him yourself.”  
“Yeah, sure,” Dean says, both of them knowing he won’t. Gracilynn’s smirk grows at the redundant answer from the two brothers. The smirk turns into a frown, Gracilynn knowing that things will never get better if they don’t talk. Gracilynn sighs, flipping the book closed and grabbing another one, opening it and beginning to look for how to kill the Abere. 

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About an hour later and neither Dean or Gracilynn has found anything significant on how to kill the Abere. Gracilynn frustratingly closes her book and shoves it towards the pile of already read books. She looks over at her dad, who looks to be almost falling asleep in his chair. Gracilynn smirks, snapping a picture with her phone. Dean jerks his head up and looks over at his daughter.  
“You find anything?” he asks, running a hand down his face and shaking his head in an attempt to wake himself up.  
“Nope, you?” she asks in return, already knowing the answer to be a no.  
“Nah,” Dean answers her, shaking his head, “Think I’m gonna give Bobby a call.”  
“Sounds good to me,” Gracilynn agrees as her phone begins to vibrate. She picks up her phone and reads the text she has gotten, smiling slightly.  
“What? Who is it?” Dean asks, trying to take a look at the text. Gracilynn pulls the phone away and puts it into her pocket. She gets up and begins gathering her things. Dean watches her with raised eyebrows. “Where are you going?”  
“Back to the room,” Gracilynn says, pulling her jacket on and walking towards the door, “I know how to kill the Abere.”  
“What? How?” Dean asks, confused, but grabbing his things nonetheless and following his daughter out the door.  
“You have to burn it,” Gracilynn replies over her shoulder, “Prolly why they live in the marshes, water deters fire.”  
“No, how do you know how to kill it?” Dean asks, following his daughter down the stairs and towards the Impala.  
“Um…well, a friend told me,” Gracilynn says hesitantly.  
“A friend?” Dean asks, knowing there’s more to the story. “What’s her name? Or his?”  
“His,” Gracilynn says, stopping at the car, purposely not looking at her father.  
“Who is he?” Dean asks, stopping next to his daughter, not moving to unlock the door and watching her.  
“Does it matter?” Gracilynn asks, still not looking at her father. Dean narrows his eyes.  
“Yeah, it does. How do I know we can trust him?” he asks, staring at her and waiting for her to answer.  
“Because I trust him,” Gracilynn says quietly, finally looking over at her dad.  
“Really? Well, I’ll be the judge of that,” Dean says, scowling, “Who is he?”  
“You know him, okay. And he’s really good at this stuff. He wouldn’t lead us astray,” Gracilynn says, hoping her dad will leave it at that, knowing he won’t. “You gonna open the door.”  
Dean sighs and unlocks the door. Gracilynn opens the door and climbs into the car, grabbing the door to close it, but Dean stops her. He holds the door open and looks down at his daughter, waiting expectantly. Gracilynn stares out the windshield, refusing to give in.  
“Who is it Gracilynn?” Dean asks, leaving no room for argument. Gracilynn bites her lip.  
“Uncle Sammy,” she says quietly, looking down at her lap. Dean’s head quirks forward, eyebrows raised in question.  
“Excuse me?” he says, tilting his head slightly.  
“Well, he’s good at the research thing,” Gracilynn explains, looking up at her dad, “And we needed the help…”  
“Not from him we didn’t,” Dean says slightly angry, his jaw tensing. “We were doing fine. If we need help, we can call Bobby.”  
“Does it matter who we get the info from as long as it’s right?” Gracilynn pleads, bringing out the puppy-dog eyes.  
“Exactly. As long as it’s right,” Dean says, shutting the door, refusing to give in this time. Gracilynn watches him walk around the car and open the door to the drivers’ side. The door is still locked so Dean taps on the window, waiting from Gracilynn to unlock the door for him. Gracilynn sighs, but reaches over and unlocks the door for her dad. Dean opens the door and drops in to the seat, starting up the Impala.  
“Call Bobby,” he says to Gracilynn, looking before he backs out of the parking spot, “See what he says.”  
Gracilynn sighs, but takes out her phone and makes the call anyways. This whole getting dad and Uncle Sammy back together again might take a little longer than I thought Gracilynn thinks.


	8. Chapter 8

“So, Uncle Bobby says that Uncle Sam was right. In order to kill an Abere, you have to set it on fire,” Gracilynn says to her dad after she hangs up her phone. Dean makes a face that Gracilynn isn’t sure how to read. “So, can we please go hunt this thing?”  
“Yeah, I’ll go hunt this thing. You are staying here,” Dean says, getting up and gathering his things.  
“What?! No way!” Gracilynn yells, glaring at her father. “You need backup!”  
“I’ll be fine. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve hunted alone and it won’t be the last,” Dean says, gathering the weapons he’ll need and putting them in the bag.  
“This thing attacks men dad. You are a man,” Gracilynn says, then smirks, not being able to help herself, “Even though I use that term loosely.”  
“You think you’re so funny don’t you?” Dean says, scowling at Gracilynn.  
“I know I am,” Gracilynn says, then continues to argue, eyebrows raised, “What are you going to if you fall under the spell?”  
“I won’t,” Dean says matter-of-factly, fixing his daughter with a look.  
“You don’t know that,” Gracilynn points out, fixing her dad with the same look.  
“Dude, what the hell? Sam’s not here so you feel the need to fill his role of being annoying?” Dean says, getting annoyed, rolling his eyes and turning back to his bag.  
“Well, someone has to because you obviously don’t look after yourself,” Gracilynn argues back, scowling at Dean.  
“Says who?” Dean argues back, turning to look at Gracilynn.  
“Says everyone!” Gracilynn yells, throwing her arms in the air in frustration, “That’s why you and Uncle Sammy made a great team. Because when you didn’t look after yourself, he did.”  
“Gracilynn,” Dean warns, glaring in her direction, “Drop it.”  
“No,” Gracilynn says, her jaw tensing, “If you’re hunting this damn thing, then I’m going with you. And you can’t make me stay here.”  
“You wanna bet,” Dean says, daring her to test him, straightening his stance.  
“I’ve learned many things from you dad, and from Uncle Sammy. And what I haven’t learned from you, I learned before I met you,” Gracilynn pushes, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow. Dean stares at his daughter. Gracilynn stares back, neither one of them relenting. “If you leave me here, I’ll just follow you. So, you either take me with you or I go without you and who knows what’ll happen then.”  
Dean stares at his daughter, clearly annoyed and angry. Gracilynn sees him fighting a war with himself and doesn’t back down in her own stare. Dean lets out a growl of annoyance and turns away.  
“Fine. But you stay with me at all times,” Dean says, shoving a flashlight in his bag.  
“Good,” Gracilynn says, grinning, her stance instantly relaxing. Dean shoots his daughter another glare over his shoulder and gathers the rest of their things. He throws the bag over his shoulder and he and Gracilynn exit the room heading out towards the marshes.

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“Gracilynn, will you stop wandering off,” Dean growls at his daughter who has diverged away from him towards a section of the marsh.  
“I thought I saw something,” she says over her shoulder.  
“Right, so naturally you thought ‘Hey, I’m gonna go chase the strange shadow that could be the killer’,” Dean says sarcastically, scowling at his daughter’s recklessness. Gracilynn looks over at him, giving him a dirty look. Dean returns it with a smirk which just annoys Gracilynn even more. As a result, instead of going back to her father, Gracilynn gives him a pompous look and begins walking further away.  
“Gracily…” Dean begins, only to be cut off by a yelp and a splash as Gracilynn falls into the marshy water. “Gracie!”  
Dean runs over to where he last saw his daughter and falls to his knees, looking down into the hole she fell into. He thinks he sees her form but something moves out of the corner of his eye. He looks up and sees a woman, dressed in a white dress, standing a few feet from him. Her black hair blowing in the breeze taking Deans’ breath away. The women smiles seductively at him and slowly turns away, walking in the opposite direction; her hips move just so, so that it amplifies her curves. Dean hears a splash, knows he should be doing something, but for the life of him he can’t remember what. He gets up and begins walking after the woman. There’s a yell from behind him and Dean stops his forward motion, shaking his head, trying to remember what it is he should be doing. When he looks up, the black haired woman is right in front of him. She grabs his shirt and pulls him close, kissing him on the lips. When she pulls away, she is giving him that seductive smile and, grabbing his hand, begins leading him away. Forgetting everything he was just thinking, Dean walks after her, letting her lead his away.

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At her dad’s sarcastic comment, Gracilynn shoots a dirty look towards him, which he returns with a smirk. God, he can be such an annoying jerk sometimes Gracilynn thinks. Gracilynn turns around, thinking if her dad’s going to be a jerk then she would be one too. She begins walking away from him, knowing she saw something move in this general area. She hears a noise to her right and she turns to look in that direction, the same time she takes another step.  
“Gracily…” she hears her dad say, just as the ground falls out from under her. Gracilynn lets out a yelp and finds herself in the marshy water. She begins struggling to get herself to the surface. Above her, she can just make out her dad’s dark shape and his muffled voice. Gracilynn tries to reach towards him, but can’t. Gracilynn struggles and forces herself towards the surface, splashing as she gets there, breathing in a big gulp of air. She sees her dad looking at a black-haired woman. He gets up and begins following her.   
“Dad!” Gracilynn yells as she feels herself being pulled back under the water.   
Gracilynn struggles to get back to the surface, but is unsuccessful. She looks down and sees her pant leg caught on a log. She grabs her leg and yanks as hard as she can. When she sees her pants begin to rip, she pulls harder. Her pants rip completely and come free. Gracilynn quickly begins to swim up to the surface again, breathing in another big gulp of air when she gets there. She looks around and sees her father walk towards a corner and quickly swims to land, pulling herself out of the water. Gracilynn sits for a second, getting her breath back. When she looks up, her dad is gone and she begins to panic. Gracilynn forces herself up onto her feet and begins running in the direction she last saw her father, kicking something on the ground. Gracilynn halts and looks down, seeing her dad’s flare gun.  
“Yeah, you don’t need backup,” Gracilynn says, picking it up and taking off again. As she rounds the corner, Gracilynn freezes. No one is in sight. Gracilynn feels herself begin to panic once more. “Where the hell are you?”  
Gracilynn hears a noise to her left and she decides to check it out. She sneaks through the grass and rounds the next corner. Gracilynn crouches down and takes in the scene before her. Her dad is on his knees watching the woman before him, who seems to be preparing herself for a meal. Gracilynn shutters at the thought. The woman eyes her dad hungrily, but Dean does nothing. It’s almost like he’s under some kind of spell or something. As soon as the woman turns her back again, Gracilynn stands up and takes aim, pulling the trigger as the woman turns back around. There is a loud shriek as she catches fire and Gracilynn turns her head at the brightness of it. When everything dies down, Gracilynn looks back and sees the ashes smoldering in a pile. Her dad lets out a groan as he shakes his head from his trance. Gracilynn runs over to him and kneels down beside him.  
“You alright?” she asks, searching his eyes for clarity. Dean looks over at her, his eyes squinted.   
“I feel like I drank too much last night,” Dean says, grabbing his head.  
“You look it too,” Gracilynn says with a smirk, helping her dad to his feet.  
“What happened?” Dean asks, looking around and seeing the pile of ash.  
“The bitch found us, well, you. She put you under some sort of trance and you ended up following her. By the time I got here, she was preparing her meal, if you get my drift,” Gracilynn says. Dean pulls a disgusted look. “That’s when I shot her and lit the bitch up.”  
“Why’d you take so long?” Dean asks, wondering why his daughter had to catch up.  
“I…was tied up,” Gracilynn says cryptically.  
Dean nods his head in understanding, but then he looks over at his daughter and really takes her in this time. She seems to be out of breath and her clothes and hair are soaking wet. Her one pant leg is ripped in the calf and she’s studying him way to closely. Probly as closely as I am her right now Dean thinks to himself.  
“Why are you soaking wet?” he asks, worry starting to nudge the back of his mind, knowing something is wrong.  
“It’s nothing,” Gracilynn says, shrugging it off, “Don’t worry about it.”  
“Did you fall in?” Dean asks her, flashes of his memory returning.  
“Ah…yeah,” Gracilynn says, knowing her dad doesn’t remember much and refusing to be the person to tell her dad that he ditched her when she was stuck underwater to go chasing after a damn girl.  
“That’s why you had to catch up?” Dean asks, trying to pry away the layers to get the full answer out of his daughter.  
“Yeah, but I’m fine,” Gracilynn says, noticing her dad checking her over. Dean looks back up at her.  
“You keep saying that,” Dean says, furrowing his eyebrows at her.  
“Because I am,” Gracilynn says, not looking at him.  
“I got that after the first time. Why do you keep saying it?” Dean asks, narrowing his eyes at her in suspicion.  
“Because I know how you are,” Gracilynn says, turning and walking away.  
“Hey,” Dean says, calling after his daughter. He notices her body tense, but she at least stops. “When did it happen?”  
“A while ago,” Gracilynn says, not turning around.  
“When?” he asks again, his eyes narrowing further, already thinking he knows the answer, but dreading to hear it from his daughter.  
“Right before the bitch came,” Gracilynn says, sighing, her body dead still in wait for his reaction.  
“So, why didn’t I help you?”  
“You did…,” Gracilynn says, closing her eyes, begging her dad to stop with the twenty questions.  
“But…”  
“She came and you took off after her. Never finished,” Gracilynn says, turning around and looking at her dad. Dean nods, feeling as though he’s going to throw up. My daughter was in trouble and I just left her to chase after some chick. “You were under a spell. It wasn’t your fault.”  
“That’s not an excuse,” Dean says, beating himself up over it.  
“Oh, right, you’re Dean Winchester. You should be able to overpower every monster around,” Gracilynn says sarcastically, pointedly looking at her dad. Dean gives her a look. “Shit happens dad. There’s nothing you could’ve done.”  
“Yeah, sure,” Dean says, not really believing it. Gracilynn sighs, knowing she won’t be able to change her father’s mind.  
“On the other hand, it was a good thing I was here, otherwise that chick would be making a shish kabob outta you,” Gracilynn says, trying for a smile and is rewarded with a small one. Dean looks over at his daughter, feeling himself smiling slightly at seeing hers.  
“Yeah, yeah,” he says, walking to her and wrapping an arm around her. He pulls her in for a sideways hug, this way if she said anything he’d be able to deny it was a hug. “Come on. Let’s go.”


	9. Chapter 9

Dean’s in the drivers’ seat, driving along the highway. His hands are gripping the steering wheel; he hates the quiet in the car right now. It leaves too much time to think about what happened back in Florida; in the marshes. He can’t turn the music up though because…  
Dean sighs and looks over in the passenger seat. Gracilynn is leaning on the door, facing him, head resting on the back of the seat. Her legs sprawled out and her feet on his lap. Dean feels a smile grow across his face, but it turns to a frown when he realizes he could have lost her on that last hunt. Dean turns to face the windshield again, sighing. He hears a slight noise and looks in the rearview mirror.  
“Holy shit!” Dean shouts, swerving the Impala on the road. Dean quickly gains control of the car, glancing quickly at his daughter, sighing in relief when he sees she’s still sleeping.   
“I am not a bowel movement Dean,” Castiel says from the back seat, looking at Dean curiously. Dean glares at him through the rearview mirror.  
“I really need to get you a bell Cas,” Dean says in aggravation, glancing at Gracilynn again. Cas tilts his head at this remark. “What do you want Cas?”  
“I believe you called me earlier tonight,” Cas says to Dean.   
“Right,” Dean says, sighing, “I need you to do me a favor.”  
“Of course,” Cas says, watching Dean. Dean glances up at Cas, trying to read his expression.  
“If anything happens to me, I need you to take Gracie some place,” Dean says, glancing at the road before looking back at Cas and holding his gaze. Cas’ eyebrows furrow.  
“Are you expecting something to happen to you?” Cas asks, tilting his head, studying Dean.  
“Yes…No…I don’t know,” Dean says, shaking his head and looking at the road, “It’s just me hunting now, so just in case…”  
“I see,” Cas says, watching Dean, “Where would you like me to take her?”  
“I…” Dean begins but stops, taking a deep breath. He looks up at Cas, looking him straight in the eye. “To Sam.”  
“But…”Cas says, confused, his brow furrowing further, “I thought you didn’t trust him.”  
“I don’t,” Dean says, then nodding to Gracilynn, “But she does. And if I’m honest with myself…As much as I can’t stand the guy right now, I know he’d do anything to keep her safe.”  
Cas nods his head in understanding.   
“Does this also go for if she is in danger and you’re not around?” he asks, looking over at Gracilynn.  
“Only if you can’t take her to me,” Dean says, still looking at Cas.  
“Very well then,” Cas says, looking back over at Dean and holds his gaze for a moment, nodding his head in understanding. Dean looks at the road and takes a deep breath.  
“Thanks Cas,” Dean says, looking back up at the rearview mirror only to find Cas is already gone. Dean sighs to himself and steps on the gas pedal a little harder, relieved he is able to do something.

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Gracilynn wakes up in a bed. She looks around and sees that they are in a hotel room. She tries to remember how she got here but can’t. Gracilynn lies in bed a little longer, realizing its night, when she realizes why she woke up in the first place. Gracilynn throws her covers off of her and makes her way to the bathroom in her bare feet, shutting the door behind her.   
As she washes her hands, Gracilynn looks at herself in the mirror, notices she’s still wearing her clothes she changed into before they left Florida. Dad must not have wanted to change me she thinks with a smirk. Thank God! Gracilynn shuts off the water and dries her hands off, hearing her dad’s phone ringing.   
“Damn it, Cas, I need to sleep!” Dean says angrily into to the phone. Gracilynn smirks. She has to agree with her dad though. She doesn’t know where they are, but considering the sound of her fathers’ voice, she doesn’t doubt he’d driven for a really long time.  
“Sam? It’s quarter past four,” she hears her father say. Gracilynn’s ears perk up at the mention of her uncle. She walks towards the door and leans into it hoping to hear something. She hears her dad get up out of bed, but he doesn’t say anything. Uncle Sam’s prolly talking his ear off. Gracilynn smirks. She hears her dad walk towards the bathroom door and she quietly steps away from it.  
“Hold on,” Dean says, “Gracie you in there?”  
“Uh…Yeah,” she answers, stumbling over her words a little, “‘M fine though. Be out in a minute.”  
“Kay,” Dean says, “Go on Sam.”  
Gracilynn hears her dad walk away from her and, no doubt, sit in the arm chair on the other side of the room.   
“So, you're his vessel, huh? Lucifer's wearing you to the prom?” Dean asks, taking a sip of his beer.  
Gracilynn realizes she can’t hide out in the bathroom forever. Not now that her dad knows she’s there. So, she unlocks the door and silently walks over to her bed.  
“Just when you thought you were out, they pull you back in, huh, Sammy?”  
Gracilynn looks up at that as she sits on her bed. She watches her dad, trying to get him to tell her something, but he’s deliberately not looking at her.  
“What are you looking for?” Dean says, looking anywhere but at his daughter, who is using every ounce of perseverance to try to get his attention.  
“I guess I'm a little numb to the earth-shattering revelations at this point,” Dean says, staring at a spot in front of him. Gracilynn sighs, finally giving up in trying to grab her dad’s attention. She swings her feet into her bed and pulls the covers over her. However, instead of lying down and going back to sleep, she leans against the headrest and stubbornly waits, staring at the wall in front of her.  
“What do you want to do about it?” Dean asks, studying his fingers, still avoiding Gracilynn’s gaze. Gracilynn looks over at her dad, her eyebrows furrow at the question and at the nonchalance in her fathers’ voice. “Sam…”  
“Oh, so, we're back to revenge, then, are we? Yeah, 'cause that worked out so well last time,” Dean says angry and annoyed, sitting forward in his chair. Gracilynn bites her lip, not sure if she wants to hear the two most important men in her life fighting like this. Dean looks over at her, sensing her unease. “Gracie go to sleep.”  
Gracie opens her mouth to argue, but shuts it. Her dad is right; he’s just looking out for her. She knows, as well as he does, that she doesn’t want to hear this. Gracilynn scoots down in the bed and curls up in the covers, closing her eyes, and trying to ignore the conversation.   
“So, what, you're just gonna walk back in and we're gonna be the dynamic duo again?” Dean says in a harsh whisper, scowling at the air in front of him. “What about Gracie?”  
“Look, Sam…it doesn't matter…whatever we do. I mean, it turns out that you and me, we're the, uh, the fire and the oil of the Armageddon. You know, on that basis alone, we should just pick a hemisphere. Stay away from each other for good,” Dean says quietly, hoping Gracilynn can’t hear him. Unfortunately, she does. Gracilynn feels her eyes begin to water but stubbornly refuses to let the tears fall.  
“Yeah, you're right. We can. But not together. We're not stronger when we're together, Sam. I think we're weaker. Because whatever we have between us…love, family, whatever it is…they are always gonna use it against us. And you know that. Yeah, we're better off apart. We got a better chance of dodging Lucifer and Michael and this whole damn thing, if we just go our own ways,” Gracilynn hears her father say into the phone. She tries to control her breathing; to not let her father on to the fact that she just might lose it. God, I am such a pansy Gracilynn scolds herself; but nothing prepares her for what her father says next. Not so much what he says but more of how he says it. With finality; as if it’s the last time they’ll talk.  
“Bye, Sam,” Dean says, hanging up the phone. Gracilynn can’t help it; she feels a tear fall down her face. She hears her dad get up out of the chair and she quickly wipes it away. Instead of going to his own bed, Dean goes over to her bed. Gracilynn shuts her eyes and pretends she’s asleep.  
“Gracie?” he asks, looking down at her face. Gracilynn keeps her eyes shut and doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t really want to talk to anyone at this moment. Not Uncle Sam, not her dad…  
“Gracie?” he asks again, reaching out to shake her but stops before his hand touches her shoulder, letting it hover there. Gracilynn doesn’t move. Dean sighs slightly, but gives up, pulling his hand back. He goes over to his bed and climbs in, pulling his own covers over top of him. “Night baby.”  
Gracilynn bites her lip, forcing herself not to say anything in return. She hears her dad roll over and she opens her eyes. She takes a stuttering breath and feels another single tear fall down her face. She doesn’t bother to wipe it away, but closes her eyes again and tries to go to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Gracilynn turns over in her bed and her eyes flicker open. She looks at the clock reading 10:30. Gracilynn looks over at her dad’s bed, not seeing him there. She blinks her eyes a few times and sits up in her bed, yawning and stretching. She looks over at her dad’s bed again, thinking she didn’t see correctly. She still doesn’t see him and looks around the room but doesn’t see a sign of him anywhere.   
“Huh,” she says, throwing her covers off and climbing out of bed. Her feet patter on the rugged floor and she looks in the bathroom but doesn’t see her dad. “Maybe he went out to get breakfast.”  
Gracilynn looks around on the nightstand and table but doesn’t see a note from her dad anywhere. She walks over to the window and, pulling the curtains aside, peers outside, the bright sun making her blink a few times. When she gets used to the brightness, she scours the parking lot for the Impala. She doesn’t have to look for long because she sees it right in front of their room. Gracilynn’s eyebrows furrow and she drops the curtains back in place. She turns around and stares at the room in front of her.  
“Dude, where the hell is he?” she asks herself. Gracilynn sighs in irritation and goes over to the nightstand and grabs her phone, fully intent on calling her dad and giving him a piece of her mind. She pushes his speed dial number and waits for her dad to pick up. The phone goes to voice mail and Gracilynn is starting to get angry now. “I swear…”  
“Dude, dad, where the hell are you?” she says, starting the message, “I swear if you’re off getting drunk or flirting with some chick, I’ll kick your ass myself. Father or not.”  
Gracilynn hangs up the phone and looks around the hotel room one last time, looking for any clues as to where her dad might be. She lets out a big sigh and sits down at the foot of her bed and stares at the empty room. Awesome, now I get to wait…or I could go out and look for him…yeah, right up until he comes back and I get my ass chewed out for leaving without him. Gracilynn sighs again and then bites her lip. Making up her mind, she grabs the room key and exits the room, intent on seeing if she can find her father.

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Gracilynn frustratingly opens the door and slams it shut. She had been everywhere looking for her dad; asking people if they’ve seen him. She even went so far as to going into the damn bar and asking, not only the bartender, but the patrons as well. And let’s just say, if her dad knew some of the people she was talking to he’d rip her a new one. Gracilynn throws the room key onto the table and looks around the room, hoping that her dad had been here while she was gone. Not seeing anything, she decides to call her dad again. She had been calling him periodically throughout the day, the last one not being very nice.  
“Hey dad. Listen, sorry about the last few messages. It’s just that…dude, I’m frickin’ worried here. You’re nowhere to be found. No one’s seen you. And…and you’re not answering your damn phone. I’m gonna try to give Uncle Bobby a call. See if he’s heard from you. But if you don’t call me back within the next hour, I’m gonna call…I’m calling Uncle Sam,” Gracilynn says. Then, before she hangs up, “Bye dad.”  
Gracilynn hangs up the phone and sits at the table. She dials Bobby’s number and waits for him to answer it. When the gruff voice greets her on the other end of the phone, she smiles.   
“Hey, Uncle Bobby,” Gracilynn says, resting her head in her free hand.  
“Hey, how’s everything going?” Bobby asks cryptically.  
“Um…well, besides dad not wanting Uncle Sam around and the fact he’s missing, everything’s going great,” Gracilynn answers sarcastically.  
“Yeah, well, can you blame the kid?” Bobby says, “Wait, did you say Sam was missing?”  
“No, I said dad is missing,” Gracilynn clarifies, sitting back in her seat.  
“What do you mean he’s missing?” Bobby asks.  
“I woke up this morning and he was gone. No note, nothing. He even left the Impala here,” Gracilynn explains, running a hand through her hair.   
“Was there any sign…?” Bobby begins.  
“Of a struggle?” Gracilynn finishes, shaking her head even though Bobby can’t see her, “No. Nothing. It’s like he up and vanished. I even went around town looking for him. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Nothing.”  
“You guys on a hunt?” Bobby asks.  
“No, that’s the thing. We were just passing through. I was kinda hoping you would’ve heard from him. It’s not like he’s been answering my phone calls.”  
“That’s not like your daddy,” Bobby thinks out loud.  
“I know. Tell me about it. He’s never not answered my phone call or text,” Gracilynn says, watching the door hoping her dad would walk through it at any moment.  
“You need me to come out there?” Bobby asks.  
“No. I’ll give him another half hour. Then, I’ll call Uncle Sam,” Gracilynn says, leaning forward on the table and tapping it with her fingers.  
“All right. I’ll let you know if I hear anything. Keep me in touch,” Bobby says, “And Gracilynn?”  
“Yeah,” Gracilynn says, stopping herself from hanging up the phone.  
“Be careful will ya?” Bobby says.  
“Don’t worry Uncle Bobby I will,” Gracilynn says, hanging up the phone and letting out a sigh.   
A half an hour later and still no sign from her father whatsoever, Gracilynn decides to make the phone call to her uncle. She doesn’t know what else to do. She looked for him everywhere, called him numerous times, and she just doesn’t know what to do. Gracilynn pulls out her phone and hits her uncle’s speed dial.   
“Hey Gracie, what’s going on?”   
“Hey Uncle Sam,” Gracilynn says, hesitating for a second, standing up and beginning to pace the room. “You hear from dad today at all?”  
There is a long pause on the other end of the line. Gracilynn bites her lip, knowing her uncle is thinking about the conversation he and her dad had last night.  
“Uh…no,” Sam says, “Why? Everything okay?”  
“Um…well, he’s kinda not here,” Gracilynn says, running a hand through her hair again.  
“What do you mean he’s not there?” Sam asks, confused.  
“He’s gone. I don’t know where he is,” Gracilynn says, waving her hand in the air.  
“Did you try calling him?”  
“Yes, I tried calling him,” Gracilynn says exasperatedly, pinching her nose, “So many times I’ve lost count. I even went looking for him.”  
“How long has he been gone?” Sam asks, surprised by his niece’s answer.  
“Since, at least this morning. He wasn’t here when I woke up,” Gracilynn answers, glancing over at the bed.  
“All right,” Sam says, already getting his things together, worry for his niece and brother sinking in, “I’m on my way. Where are you?”  
“Uh… I’m not sure,” Gracilynn says, beginning to look around the hotel room for anything that could tell her, seeing a pad of paper with Century Hotel on it.  
“What do you mean you’re not sure?” Sam asks.  
“Well, I fell asleep and when I woke up late last night to use the bathroom I was in the hotel bed,” Gracilynn explains, opening the dresser drawers but only finds a map of Kansas.  
“Do me a favor. Go to the front desk and ask okay?” Sam says.  
“Okay,” Gracilynn says, grabbing the key and exiting the room, heading to the front desk. Rounding the corner, Gracilynn sees housekeeping and decides to ask the lady. “Hi, can you help me?”  
“Yes, of course,” the lady, Alissa by her tag, says in a Puerto Rican accent.  
“Um…could you tell me what city we’re in?” Gracilynn asks, offering the lady a small smile.  
“Kansas City,” Alissa answers returning the smile.  
“Thank You,” Gracilynn says, turning around and going back to the room, talking into her phone. “Uncle Sam?”  
“Yeah, still here,” he answers.  
“Kansas City. Century Hotel, room 113,” Gracilynn says, looking at the room number on the door when she walks back into the room, shutting the door behind her and walking over to the table.  
“I’m about four and a half hours out. I’ll be there soon,” Sam says.   
“Okay, sounds…” Gracilynn says only to feel someone behind her. She turns around and yelps, not expecting to see Cas standing right there. “Cas, what the hell are you doing here?”  
“Fulfilling a promise,” Cas says, touching Gracilynn’s forehead and the two of them disappear.

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“I’m about four and a half hours out. I’ll be there soon,” Sam says into the phone, grabbing his bag and throwing his belongings in it.   
“Okay, sounds…” Gracilynn says on the other end of the line, but then goes silent. There is a yelp and then, “Cas, what the hell are you doing here?”  
“Gracie?” Sam asks into the phone, freezing and listening for his niece’s response.   
“Fulfilling a promise,” Sam hears Cas say in the background.  
“‘The hell? Gracie?!” Sam yells into the phone. Sam hears a noise behind him and turns around, stumbling back when Gracilynn and Cas appear practically on top of him. Just as soon as he has appeared, Cas disappears without a word. “Gracie?”  
“Uncle Sammy?” Gracilynn asks, looking around and furrowing her eyebrows when they land back on her uncle, confused at being with her uncle. She gives her uncle a big hug and Sam wraps his arms around her, squeezing her tight. Gracilynn pulls back and looks at Sam. “What the hell just happened?”  
“That’s a good question,” Sam says, pulling back and looking at Gracilynn, “Cas didn’t say anything?”  
“Just that he was fulfilling a promise,” Gracilynn answers, shaking her head, “Whatever the hell that means.”  
“My guess? It has to do with Dean,” Sam says, running a hand through his hair.   
“Yeah, well the least Cas could’ve done was let us know where the hell dad is,” Gracilynn grumbles, scowling at the place Cas was a few moments ago.  
“You have no clue where he is?” Sam asks, looking back over at Gracilynn. Gracilynn gives her uncle a look.  
“If I did, don’t ya think I would’ve found him already?” she says sarcastically, huffing and walking a few steps away. Sam sighs, looking at his partially packed bag.  
“All right,” he says, then looks over at his niece again, “You hungry?”  
“No, I’m fine,” Gracilynn says, shaking her head, followed by her stomach growling.   
“Sounds like your stomach isn’t,” Sam says, looking at her knowingly, raising an eyebrow.  
“We have to get back; try to find dad,” Gracilynn says, shaking her head again and turning to look over at her uncle.  
“We will. But first, you need to eat,” Sam counters, grabbing his jacket and key and walking towards the motel room door. It’s Gracilynn’s turn to sigh, but she follows her uncle anyways. 

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Sam and Gracilynn enter the dark hotel room to see someone standing in the middle of the room. Sam quickly shoves Gracilynn behind him, pulling his gun out and pointing it at the person in one fluid motion.  
“Who are you?” Sam asks loudly, glaring at the shadowy figure. The person turns around and looks at them.  
“Sam,” the person says. Sam furrows his eyebrows, dropping his gun slightly.  
“Gracilynn,” he says to his niece, keeping his eye on the person in front of him. Gracilynn turns on the lights and the two of them see Cas standing in front of them. “Cas, you almost got yourself shot.”  
“I am an angel of the Lord Sam. It wouldn’t have done anything,” Cas says, looking at the two of them.  
“Did you find dad?” Gracilynn asks, walking over to stand next to her uncle.  
“Yes and no,” Cas answers, keeping his gaze on the two younger Winchesters.   
“What does that mean?” Sam asks, furrowing his eyebrows, putting his gun in his waisteband.  
“It means,” Cas begins, looking between the two hunters before him, “I know what happened to him, I just don’t know where he is.”  
“So, what happened to him?” Gracilynn asks, her brow furrowing and her head cocking slightly.  
“Zachariah,” Cas says, looking around the room before stopping back on Sam and Gracilynn, “He has put your father in a different time.”  
“What?!” Gracilynn asks, her eyes growing wide and looking to her uncle.  
“Where?” Sam asks, his own eyes wide and taking an eager step forward “Or…when?”  
“I don’t know. I haven’t been able to track him down yet,” Cas says, shaking his head. “But I need you two to stay here. You won’t be able to do anything there and I promised Dean.”  
“Promised him what?” Sam and Gracilynn ask in unison, their brows pinching together, Gracilynn looking back at Cas.  
“That if anything happened to him and I couldn’t get to him, I was to bring Gracilynn to you Sam,” Cas explains, looking directly at Sam, “So she was safe. She will not be safe if she is there.”  
“Why not?” Gracilynn asks, watching Cas for any sign he knows more than he’s letting on.  
“Zachariah is watching,” Cas says, looking over at Gracilynn. “I will continue to look for Dean.”  
“Yeah, but Cas…” Sam begins only to be cut off by Cas disappearing. Sam and Gracilynn look around, sighing in annoyance. “Awesome.”  
“So, now what do we do?” Gracilynn asks exasperatedly, throwing her hands up and looking to her uncle.  
“I guess we wait,” says Sam, sighing and walking over to the table to take a seat. “And get a good night’s sleep.”  
“Seriously?” Gracilynn asks, scowling, “This blows!”  
“Tell me about it,” Sam returns, leaning back in his seat, watching as Gracilynn drops onto his bed and flops down onto her back.

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Gracilynn rolls over in her bed, a noise blaring into her dream. Her eyes flutter open and she recognizes it as her uncles’ phone. She hears her uncle feeling around the table for it. He must have found it because the blaring noise stops.  
“H’lo,” he mumbles into the phone, his eyes still closed. Gracilynn squints, looking around the room. It is still dark. Looking at the clock she sees it’s only one-thirty. Awesome. We’ve only been asleep for an hour and a half. “Dean?”  
Gracilynn’s head whips around to look at her uncle who has sat up and is rubbing his eyes. Gracilynn sits up herself, holding herself up with one hand. She watches her uncle for any clue as to how her dad is.   
“Are you okay? Where were you? Did Cas find you?” Sam rapidly begins asking, reaching over and turning on the bedside lamp, listening to Dean on the other end of the line. “Yeah, she’s here. She’s fine. Worried…Yeah, hold on.”  
Sam looks over at his niece and holds the phone out for her to take. Gracilynn reaches over and grabs it from Sam and puts it to her ear.  
“Dad?” she asks in to the phone, glancing at her uncle.  
“Hey, Gracie,” Dean says, “You okay?”  
“Yeah, I’m fine Dad,” Gracilynn says, sighing in relief at hearing her dad’s voice, “Are you?”  
“Fine. So, I see Cas did what he promised,” Dean says.  
“Yeah. Been here since about dinner time,” Gracilynn says running a hand through her hair, “Was looking for you the rest of the day.”  
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Dean says.  
“Where are you?” Gracilynn asks, looking up when Sam climbs out of his bed.  
“A couple states over from where we were,” Dean says.  
“You coming?” Gracilynn asks, biting her lip. There is a slight pause.  
“Yeah…yeah, I’m coming,” Dean says, “Listen, put your uncle on.”  
“Kay,” Gracilynn says, looking over at her uncle and handing the phone back over to Sam. Sam turns around and sees her holding the phone out to him. He takes it and puts it to his ear.  
“Dean?”  
“Sam. You were right. We need to fight this. Together,” Dean says.  
“You serious?” Sam asks, not wanting to get his hopes up. Gracilynn watches her uncle, hoping for the best.  
“Yeah. Where are you? We can meet up at the half way point,” Dean says.  
“Uh…Garber, Oklahoma,” Sam says, looking at a newspaper on the table for the town.  
“All right, I’m about six hours away,” Dean says, “Let’s meet off of the I-40. We’ll call when we get closer.”  
“Okay,” Sam says, nodding his head, “Bye.”  
Sam hangs up his phone and hastily begins packing his bag. Gracilynn follows his lead and picks up her bag that Cas so kindly dropped off and throws it on her bed.  
“We meeting dad?” she asks, already grabbing her belongings and packing her bag.  
“Uh…yeah,” Sam says, still trying to wrap his brain around the sudden change in mind. “Hurry up and pack. We’re going to leave in fifteen.”  
Sam throws the last of his clothes in the bag and walks in to the bathroom. Gracilynn watches him, smiling, relieved that her family is getting back together again. She begins grabbing things around the room and throwing them in to her uncles’ bag, wanting to leave as soon as possible.

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Gracilynn looks out the windshield as her uncle pulls up to the Impala. She had tried to fall asleep, but the excitement of seeing her dad and making sure he truly was okay, wasn’t letting her. Dean is waiting by the Impala, watching them as they pull up. As soon as Sam puts the car in park, Gracilynn finds herself flinging the door open and jumping out of the car. She bounds over to her dad, jumping in his arms, a big grin on her face. Dean wraps his arms around her, a matching grin present.  
“Hey Gracie,” Dean says as he squeezes her tight.  
“Hey dad,” Gracilynn says, returning the squeeze. Reluctantly, Gracilynn pulls away, checking her dad over to make sure that he is, in fact, okay. Sam watches this, a smirk pulling at his lips, as he sees Dean doing the exact same thing. Satisfied Gracilynn is okay, Dean looks up at his brother.  
“Gracie, wait inside the car for me,” Dean says, keeping his eyes on his brother. Gracilynn nods her head and walks over to the back door. Opening it, she looks back and sees her dad and uncle approach each other. Gracilynn climbs in to the back seat and shuts the door, watching her family in front of her. Dean pulls out the demon-killing knife and hands it to Sam, who takes it from him after a slight hesitation. Gracilynn grins, knowing everything is going to be okay. Maybe not perfect, or even great or good, but okay.


	11. Chapter 11

Dean looks in his rearview mirror, seeing Gracilynn passed out on the back seat. His jacket’s underneath her acting as a pillow and she’s curled up in Sam’s sweatshirt. Dean smiles at her comment earlier.   
“What? My sweatshirt’s not good enough for you?” Dean asks, smirking, watching as his daughter takes Sam’s sweatshirt from him and slips it on.  
“Its fine,” Gracilynn says, “Uncle Sammy’s is just way bigger so I’m…”  
“Swimming in it? Literally,” Dean says, eyeing Gracilynn in the sweatshirt. The bottom of it comes down to her knees and her hands lost in the sleeves.   
“I like big sweatshirts that I can curl up in, especially if I’m not sleeping in a bed,” Gracilynn says, shrugging her shoulders and climbing in to the car.  
Dean’s gaze shifts back to the road and then over to the sleeping form of his brother in the seat next to him. He’s still not sure if he can trust him, but he knows calling him was the right move. There was no way he was going to let what happened in 2014 happen. No way. Dean looks at the road again and then glances in the mirror at his daughter one more time. Not ever.

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AUGUST, 2014  
CAMP CHITAQUA HEADQUARTERS

“Yes. I got a camp full of twitchy trauma survivors out there with an apocalypse hanging over their head. The last thing they need to see is a version of The Parent Trap. So, yeah, you stay locked down,” 2014Dean says.   
“Okay. All right. Fine. But you don't have to cuff me, man. Oh, come on. You don't trust yourself?” 2009Dean replies, groaning inwardly at the knowing look 2014Dean gives him.  
“No. Absolutely not,” 2014Dean responds, as the door opens and shuts.  
“Dean, they’re waiting for…” a young woman of about twenty says, but trails off at the sight of both Dean’s. 2014Dean stands up and turns to face her.  
“I thought I told you not to come in here?” he says to her in annoyance, fixing her with a firm look.   
“You said no one come in here,” she corrects, staring him down, “Do I look like no one?”  
2014Dean glares at her firmly while 2009Dean smirks at the sarcastic remark. 2009Dean looks up at her, knowing she looks familiar and tries to place her. The girl’s gaze wanders back his way and begins studying him. 2009Dean shifts under her scrutiny. 2014Dean turns to look at 2009Dean.  
“What is he?” the girl asks, studying 2009Dean.  
“No one important,” 2014Dean says, dismissing her.  
“Hey!” 2009Dean protests angrily. 2014Dean sends him a glare. Damn, is this what others feel like when I look at them like that?...Awesome!  
“Is it a shapeshifter? Ghoul? Skinwalker?” she asks, then pauses and glances at 2014Dean, “Demon?”  
“No,” 2014Dean says, sighing, looking over at the girl. “He’s me.”  
“Obviously,” she says, rolling her eyes before glancing back at 2009Dean.  
“He’s me five years ago,” 2014Dean explains, looking back at 2009 Dean. The girl’s head snaps towards 2014Dean, her eyes wide. She looks back at 2009Dean, mouthing something under her breath.  
“Son of a Bitch,” she says, biting her lip and really looking at 2009Dean. 2009Dean notices this and it suddenly dawns on him who this girl is; she is the right age.  
“Gracie?” 2009Dean asks, furrowing his eyebrows. Her eyes begin to look a little wet at hearing this. She seems to bite down harder on her lip and quickly controls her emotions. She looks over at 2014Dean. He looks back at her and sees her just being able to control her emotions.  
“Get control of yourself,” he says, then looks back at 2009Dean, “It’s not like he’s staying long.”  
“Yeah,” Gracilynn whispers, glancing back at 2009Dean sadly, “Unfortunately.”  
2014Dean looks over at his daughter, eyebrows narrowing, having heard what she said. 2009Dean’s head turns to his daughter as well, also having heard what she said.  
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” 2014Dean asks, his eyes narrowing at her.  
“It means,” Gracilynn says, looking at 2014Dean, burying her other emotions and bringing forth her anger, “That you actually cared back then.”  
“Caring doesn’t get you very far nowadays,” 2014Dean shoots back, glaring at Gracilynn. Gracilynn matches his glare. 2009Dean’s eyebrows shoot up, not missing how much he and Gracilynn truly do look alike.  
“Yeah, because orders do,” Gracilynn argues, scowling at 2014Dean.  
“Gracilynn, I’m not fighting with you on this,” 2014Dean says firmly, his gaze darkening.  
“That’s right because that would be showing emotion,” Gracilynn spats back, glaring daggers at 2014Dean. 2014Dean’s jaw clenches, his vein pulsing, as he glares back at his daughter.  
“We’ll deal with when I get back,” he orders, then points at 2009Dean while still glaring at his daughter, “Leave him be.”  
With that, 2014Dean exits the room, holding the door open for Gracilynn to follow. Gracilynn closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and leaves, glancing back at 2009Dean before exiting the room, something in her eyes 2009Dean can’t place.

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2009Dean is trying to pry a nail out of the floorboards when he hears the door open and shut behind him. He closes his eyes, and sighs in defeat. Of course he would return now he thinks. He opens his eyes and looks up to see Gracilynn standing there in front of him. She is looking at his hand on the nail and 2009Dean pulls his hand back, watching her. She looks at him with an eyebrow raised.   
“For someone who always says he should carry paperclips, you sure don’t act on it,” she states, a playful smirk on her lips. 2009Dean smirks back. Gracilynn pulls a paperclip out of her pocket and kneels down in front of him. Now it’s 2009Dean’s turn to raise an eyebrow.   
“You’re helping me?” he asks, surprised, his wide eyes studying her. Gracilynn shrugs, working on the handcuffs. “Even after your dad…I?...told you to leave me alone?”  
“Dean and I don’t really see eye to eye anymore,” Gracilynn explains, concentrating on the handcuffs. She smiles slightly when the handcuffs click and she pulls them off his wrists. 2009Dean looks at her, his eyebrows furrowed.  
“You called him Dean again. Why?” he asks, not sure if he wants to hear the answer. Gracilynn bites her lip, something she used to do when she was torn. Obviously, she hasn’t given it up.   
“‘Cause he’s not my dad,” she says, glancing up at 2009Dean. 2009Dean looks at her completely confused.  
“What?” he asks, his eyebrows furrowing.  
“Well, he is, but…” she says, trailing off, looking towards the door. 2009Dean waits but she doesn’t continue.  
“But what?” he prods, tilting his head to the side. Gracilynn shrugs her shoulders, glancing at him before looking down at the floor.  
“He’s changed,” she explains, “All he cares about now is icing the devil. He’s barking orders; everything’s strictly business. He rarely calls me by my name and he hasn’t called me Gracie in…I don’t know, at least three years. The last time I actually had a conversation with him…like really had a conversation with him was longer than that. Probably four years ago. Now the only time we talk is when he’s ordering me around or we’re fighting over how much a dick he is or isn’t being. He’s just not…not you.”  
2009Dean watches her, his heart silently bleeding for his daughter, even if she’s five years into the future.   
“So, why do you stick around?” he asks, bringing a knee up and resting a forearm on it, keeping his eyes on her. Gracilynn looks at him, eyebrows raised in to her hairline.  
“Uh…crazy, psychotic zombies running around,” she says, circling her finger around in the air to represent ‘everywhere’.  
“Of course,” 2009Dean says, nodding his head and looking at the floor then, looks her dead in the eye, “Why do you still listen to him then?”  
Gracilynn looks away from him, out the window, biting her lip again. She looks back at 2009Dean and sighs.  
“‘Cause he’s my dad,” she says, the puppy-dog eyes starting to bloom rapidly, “And part of me has to still believe that somewhere in there, buried, is…you.”  
2009Dean looks at her, wanting to walk over and give her a hug, not sure if he should because even though this is his daughter, in a way she isn’t his daughter. She’s the other’s daughter. Gracilynn crosses her arms in front of her and stares out the window. 2009Dean takes notice and then it hits him. She’s wearing a sweatshirt. His sweatshirt. Not the other dick Dean’s sweatshirt, but his. The one he wore when he was sick; when Sam took him to meet…Roy LaGrange? 2009Dean makes up his mind and stands up, walking over to Gracilynn. She looks at him, hearing him get up and walk towards her. Just as she looks up at him, Dean envelops her in a hug. Gracilynn stiffens automatically, but then she realizes who is hugging her and relaxes into her dad’s arms and wraps hers around him. She feels her eyes begin to water and everything in her fights to keep her tears at bay.  
“I’m sorry Gracie,” 2009Dean says and Gracilynn feels the tears begin to fall down her face. She squeezes 2009Dean and buries her face in his chest, missing the feeling of someone just being there for her.  
“I’ve really missed you,” Gracilynn whispers, squeezing tighter, and 2009Dean feels his own eyes begin to water.

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“What the hell was that?” 2014Dean says, shoving 2009Dean into the room and shutting the door behind them.  
“What the hell was that? You just shot a guy in cold blood,” 2009Dean says, waving a hand towards the door, starting to see what Gracilynn meant.  
“We were in an open quarantine zone. Got ambushed by some Croats on the way out,” 2014Dean says, glaring at 2009Dean. 2009Dean looks at him, his expression demanding an explanation. “Croats. Croatoans. One of them infected Yeager.”  
“How do you know?” 2009Dean asks, his brow furrowing.  
“'Cause after a few years of this, I know. I started seeing symptoms about a half an hour ago. Wasn't gonna be long before he flipped. I didn't see the point in troubling a good man with bad news,” 2014Dean responds, ice in his tone and not backing down from the earlier version of himself.  
“‘Troubling a good man'? You just blew him away in front of your own people. Don't you think that freaked them out a little bit? Freaked Gracie out a little bit?” 2009Dean says, pointing towards the door, his eyebrows raised.  
“It's 2014. Plugging some Croat, its’ called commonplace. Trading words with my friggin' clone…that might have freaked them out a little,” 2014Dean says angrily, pointing to him and 2009Dean, then, points to the closed door, “Besides, I did that for Gracilynn.”  
“Really?” 2009Dean asks unconvinced, a sneer on his lips. “How is plugging a maybe croat in front of her helping Gracie out?”  
“Because,” 2014Dean growls as his look darkens. “If he would’ve turned, we all would’ve been in danger…most importantly Gracilynn. No way am I bringing that shit to her.”  
“All right, look…” 2009Dean starts, calming down slightly. As much as he doesn’t agree with this, he can see 2014Dean still cares for his daughter deep down.  
“No, you look. This isn't your time. It's mine. You don't make the decisions. I do. So, when I say stay in, you stay in,” 2014Dean shouts, still glaring at 2009Dean.  
“All right, man. I'm sorry. Look, I…I'm not trying to mess you…me…us up here,” 2009Dean replies, forcing himself to calm down. He watches as 2014Dean pulls out a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.  
“I know,” 2014Dean responds, pouring two glasses of alcohol.  
“It’s just been a really wacky weekend,” 2009Dean says, running a hand through his hair. 2014Dean hands 2009Dean one of the glasses which 2009Dean accepts.  
“Tell me about it,” 2014Dean says, the two of them taking a drink.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNS

“Dean, come on, this is so not fair!” Gracilynn yells at her dad as she follows him to the truck. 2009Dean is leaning against the front of a car behind the truck, looking on at the oncoming fight.  
“You’re not coming,” 2014Dean says firmly, throwing his bag in the back of the vehicle. 2009Dean’s head swivels to Gracilynn. Why the hell would she want to come? 2009Dean thinks, but then remembers something she had told him earlier. ‘Cause he’s my dad. And part of me has to still believe that somewhere in there, buried, is…you.   
“You need all the help you can get,” Gracilynn argues, standing next to 2014Dean as he loads up the back of the truck.   
“I have plenty of help. I ain’t letting you go out there,” 2014Dean argues back, shutting the back door.  
“So, what? You can go out and risk your neck every day for people you don’t even know, but I can’t go for you?!” Gracilynn yells, glaring at her father. Still the spitfire, huh Gracie? 2009Dean thinks to himself, smirking at his daughters’ argument.  
“I’m going to end the Apocolypse Gracilynn!” 2014Dean yells back, turning to glare back at her.  
“You’re going on a suicide mission, Dad!” Gracilynn yells louder, refusing to back down. 2014Dean’s look darkens.  
“I’ll be fine,” 2014Dean says firmly, walking to the front door and opening it, climbing inside it. 2009Dean climbs in to the 2014Cas’s car behind 2014Dean’s truck. “See you tonight.”  
“You think you’re gonna go out there and see him?” Gracilynn yells at 2014Dean. 2014Dean shuts the door, causing Gracilynn to quickly step out of the way. 2014Dean tries to ignore his daughter. “Kill him? He’s your little brother! You never were able to hurt him. What make you think you can kill him now?”  
2014Dean starts up the truck and puts it into drive.  
“The only thing you’re going to accomplish is getting yourself killed,” Gracilynn says quieter, “And I’m going to lose the rest of my dad…”  
2014Dean clamps his jaw shut and, without looking at his daughter, steps on the gas and heads to their destination. Gracilynn looks at the car behind 2014Dean’s truck and meets 2009Dean’s eyes and she bites her lip. 2009Dean knows exactly what she is torn about. He shakes his head no, silently pleading with her to stay. Gracilynn takes a deep breath and nods her head slightly, feeling her eyes water again as she watches both her dad’s leave her for good.

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2009  
THE IMPALA

Dean looks back to the road in front of him, letting out a deep breath nice and slow. Not only was he doing this for the world. For he and Sam. But he was also doing this for Gracie. She didn’t deserve to have a dad like that. No way. She didn’t deserve to see all that evil. She deserved a hell of a lot more. And, dammit, he was gonna do everything he can to do that for her.


	12. Chapter 12

“Come on, let’s go Snow White,” Dean says, hitting Gracilynn in the foot. Gracilynn groans and throws the covers over her face and curls up in them instead. “You’re gonna be late.”  
“For what?” Gracilynn grumbles from under the covers.  
“School,” Dean says. Gracilynn groans.  
“Why?” she whines, snuggling deeper into her covers.  
“Because it’s the first day of school and you need to go,” Dean says, pulling the covers off her head. Sam looks up from the table he’s sitting at to watch the spectacle before him, a smile playing on his lips.   
“Nothing ever happens on the first day of school. Can’t I just skip it?” Gracilynn whines, grabbing the blanket and yanking it over her head once again.  
“Nope,” Dean says, seeing that his daughter isn’t going to get up. He goes to the foot of the bed and grabs her ankles from over the blankets and begins pulling. Gracilynn lets out a yelp when she feels her body getting pulled off the bed. She tries to grab the headboard but is already too far down the bed, so instead, starts grabbing at the sheets. However, the sheets come unhooked and the sheets, pillows, blankets, and Gracilynn drop to the floor.   
“Oomph,” Gracilynn says as she topples to the floor. Sam chuckles at the sight.  
“Time to get up,” Dean says, walking over to the other bed.   
“Dude, seriously?!” Gracilynn yells, the sheet is half on her head and she is trying to get untwisted from the blankets.   
“Yeah, you see there’s this little thing called the law,” Dean says while sitting on the bed cleaning his guns, “It says you have to go to school until your sixteen.”  
“Since when have you cared about following the law?” Gracilynn grumbles, getting angry that her foot won’t come untwisted.   
“Since three letters came about and I found out I had you,” Dean says, fixing her with a firm look.   
“What’s that?” Gracilynn asks, yanking her foot free and yanking the sheet off her head, and looking up at her father, who has turned his attention back to his guns.  
“CPS,” Dean says without looking up. Gracilynn scowls, but gets up and grabs her bag, heading to the bathroom to get ready. Sam stares at Dean.  
“What Sam?” Dean asks, still not looking up.  
“Aw, you’re getting all protective daddy on her,” Sam says in a baby voice, trying and failing to suppress a smirk.  
“Shove it Sam,” Dean says, scowling at his brother. Sam’s smirk grows in return. 

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Gracilynn walks into her Sophomore homeroom and looks around. Most of the kids are dressed in Abercrombie or Banana Republic. Yup, definitely not gonna like it here she thinks. Gracilynn sighs and takes a seat in the back of the room, waiting for the teacher to begin class. Just as the bell rings a guy strolls in wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. Gracilynn finds her gaze linger on him a little. He’s about five ten with medium brown hair cut short. He saunters past the class, winking at a couple girls and takes the seat next to Gracilynn. Gracilynn quickly looks ahead and the teacher begins roll call. She tries not to stare but finds herself checking him out, out of the corner of her eye.   
“Gracilynn Winchester?” asks the teacher. Gracilynn doesn’t hear him, too busy with the guy next to her. “Winchester? Gracilynn Winchester?”  
Gracilynn startles to and looks up at the teacher. She swallows, mentally kicking herself in the butt for getting sidetracked.  
“Um…here,” she says. The teacher nods and continues down the list. The guy next to her turns to look at her.  
“Haven’t seen you around. You new here?” he asks, shooting her a grin that would make any girl melt. Gracilynn mentally smacks herself in the face and grins back.  
“Yeah, just moved here with my dad and Uncle,” she says.   
“Scott Jones,” he says, his hazel eyes twinkling. Gracilynn feels herself begin to get lost in them, but mentally shakes herself. Pull yourself together dammit. The guys flirting with you and you’re becoming a drooling mess. Get a grip.   
“Gracilynn,” she says in return. Scott leans closer to her.  
“You know, I’m throwing this party tonight down by the lake. You should come,” he says. Gracilynn smirks at him.  
“Yeah, why’s that?” she asks, smirking playfully.  
“Might be a lot of fun,” Scott says suggestively.  
“Might be?” Gracilynn asks, smirk not leaving her face. Scott smirks back. “What time?”  
“We’re all getting together at seven,” Scott says.  
“Yeah, okay, I’ll see if I can make it,” Gracilynn says.  
“All right then,” Scott says, grinning.

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Gracilynn walks out of the high school and looks around for the Impala. She spots it down the line of cars and makes her way towards it. Dean watches from inside the car. He sees a kid about Gracilynn’s age, maybe a year older, with brown hair walking behind her. He watches closer and realizes he’s checking out her butt. He’s about to climb out of the car and give the kid a piece of his mind but the kid ends up getting into another car. Gracilynn gets to the passenger door and opens it up, climbing into the passenger seat.  
“How was school?” Dean asks, still eyeing the kid in the car.   
“Good, I guess,” Gracilynn says.  
“Who was that?” Dean says, nodding towards the kid in the car driving past them. Gracilynn looks in the direction her dad nodded and sees Scott driving past them.  
“No one,” she says, shrugging and putting on her seatbelt. Dean eyes his daughter and, putting the car in drive, drives off towards their hotel.

 

“Hey dad?” Gracilynn says as her dad walks out of the bathroom. Dean looks up at his daughter. “Can I go out tonight?”  
“Go out?” Dean asks, confused. “Go out where?”  
“Uh…well, I met some people at school. They were heading down to the lake. They invited me to come with them,” Gracilynn says hopefully. Dean narrows his eyes.  
“Some people? What are you guys doing?” Dean asks curiously.  
“Prolly just hanging out,” Gracilynn says, shrugging. Dean studies his daughter.  
“So, in other words, drinking,” he says.  
“No,” Gracilynn says defensively, but then realizes she’s lucky she was able to get away with lying this much. “Maybe. I don’t know. But if they do, I won’t. I promise.”  
Dean stares at her, trying to see if he should let her go. He finds himself looking back at his brother sitting at the table on his computer. Sam looks at him and shrugs, conveying a whole sentence in that one movement and the look. Dean sighs then looks back at his daughter.  
“Fine, but you call if anything starts getting even a little crazy,” Dean says.  
“But da…” Gracilynn starts protesting, then realization hits her, “Wait, you’re letting me go?”  
“Yeah, so get outta here before I change my mind,” Dean says defeated. Gracilynn grins.  
“Thanks dad,” she says, grabbing her room key and running out the door.

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Gracilynn arrives at the lake about fifteen minutes later. She pulls out her phone and sends her dad a text, letting him know that she arrived okay. She looks around the clearing. There is a big bonfire with a big group of kids surrounding it. She begins to walk towards it. She sees a guy look up and notice her. He stands up and walks over to her.  
“Hey,” Scott says, smiling his leg melting smile.   
“Hey,” Gracilynn says, smiling back at him. Scott grabs her hand and leads her to the bonfire. The two of them take a seat and Scott leans over and grabs two bottles out of a cooler. He hands one to Gracilynn. She looks at it and bites her lip.  
“I…no, thanks,” Gracilynn says. Scott gives her a look.  
“You don’t drink?” he asks.  
“It’s not that,” Gracilynn says, because no way was she a good girl and no way was she letting this guy think she was. Scott tilts his head and looks at her.  
“You promised your dad you wouldn’t,” he says. Gracilynn looks up at him, curious as to how he knew. “You said you moved here with your dad and uncle. You didn’t say anything about a mom so I just assumed she wasn’t around. So, overprotective father?”  
“Yeah,” Gracilynn says looking at the ground.   
“He doesn’t know about me does he?” Scott says smirking.  
“Hell no,” Gracilynn says, smirking in return. 

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN  
An hour later one of the kids decides to go for a swim in the lake. He convinces a few other to go with him. The small group begin taking off their clothes, leaving their boxers, underwear, and bras on.   
“What, you don’t want to go?” Scott asks suggestively. Gracilynn smirks.  
“And freeze to death? Nuh-uh,” Gracilynn says smirking, watching the group run to the lake. Suddenly, the water begins to bulge up. The girls start screaming, running back to the bonfire. The guys stand and watch as a giant serpent like creature surfaces from the water.   
“Son of a Bitch,” Gracilynn says, standing up. The guys start running back to the bonfire as well. The creature lunges at them, causing one of them to trip and fall. Before she can think about what she is doing, Gracilynn takes off towards the guy, pulling the gun from her boots. The serpent lunges at him and bites him. The kid lets out a scream. The serpent releases himself and retracts back into the lake, leaving the kid screaming on the beach. Gracilynn stops as she pulls up to him, dropping to her knees, still keeping a lookout for the thing. She looks over the kid, seeing the puncture hole in his thigh. Scott skids to a halt next to her, checking him over himself. The kid bites down on another scream.   
“This isn’t good,” Gracilynn says, quickly hiding her gun back in her boot before Scott sees it.   
“What the hell?” Scott says, pulling his hands away quickly. Gracilynn looks down and sees the kids’ skin is covered in a bright red rash. She peers at it closer, making sure not to touch it. She pulls her head back as sores begin to appear as well.  
“The hell?” she says, watching the kid in front of her.   
“We should move him before that thing comes again,” Scott says. Gracilynn looks up at him then back down at the kid covered in rash and sores.   
“Yeah, no problem,” she says sarcastically. Scott gives her a look. Suddenly, the kid begins to convulse before them.   
“Son of a…” Gracilynn says, shooting herself backwards. Scott mimics her reaction. All they can do is watch; the rest of the group stays near the bonfire watching from afar, not wanting to get too close to the kid, but more importantly the lake where the creature came from. The kids’ back arches so high that it seems as if he’s being folded in half. Just as soon as it began, the convulsing stops and the kid collapses to the ground. Gracilynn watches him, not seeing his chest move.   
“You think he’s…?” Scott asks, trailing off. Gracilynn shakes her head.  
“I don’t know,” she says. She puts a finger to the kids’ neck, thanking God that it’s not covered in the disgusting rash and sores. She doesn’t feel a pulse and looks up at Scott, shaking her head. Scott lets out a breath. Scott pulls out his phone and hits a few buttons. Gracilynn looks at him curiously.  
“I’d like to report a…” Scott begins, but trails off, looking at Gracilynn not knowing what this was. “Uh…death.”  
Gracilynn backs up from the body and makes her way to the crowd. No way was she going to be here when the cops came. Her dad would kill her. But if she walked back to the hotel, the cops would pass her and would wonder why she was walking away from the crime scene. She bites her lip and makes the decision. She sneaks off towards the road and pulls out her phone, pressing her dads’ speed dial.


	13. Chapter 13

“I’ve got nothing,” Sam says, leaning back in his chair, looking at Dean from overtop his computer. Dean looks up at him and sighs heavily.  
“Me neither,” Dean says, “There seems to be nothing supernatural whatsoever going on anywhere near here. Dean picks up his phone and looks at it, sighing again and setting it back down on the table. Sam looks at him curiously; Dean had been doing that all night, ever since he got the text from Gracilynn that she arrived at the lake okay.  
“You expecting a phone call or something?” Sam asks his brother, eyeing him curiously. Dean looks up at his brother.  
“What?” he says, then realizes what Sam is talking about. “Oh, um…no.”  
“Why do you keep looking at your phone then?” Sam asks, not letting it drop.  
“I don’t know, just something about the text Gracilynn sent me,” Dean says, glancing at his phone.  
“That she got there okay? Why?” Sam asks, not understanding.  
“Because she wouldn’t have sent that on her own,” Dean explains, “She’s too independent. She would’ve if I asked her to, but not on her own.”  
“Okay, so what are you thinking?” Sam asks, leaning in towards his brother.  
“She’s hiding something,” Dean says, “I’ve had a feeling since I picked her up from school, but it’s growing.”  
“Wait, you have feelings?” Sam asks, smirking. Dean glares at him.  
“I’m serious Sam,” Dean says.  
“Okay, okay,” Sam says, “Why don’t you call her then?”  
“What? And look like a controlling, over protective, psycho dad? No way,” Dean says.  
“But you are over protective,” Sam points out, earning another glare from Dean. Before Dean can say anything in return his phone rings. Still glaring at Sam, he picks up his phone and answers it.  
“Hello?”

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“Hello?” Gracilynn hears her father say on the other end of the line.   
“Dad?” she asks, walking out onto the side of the road.  
“Gracilynn? You okay?” he asks. It’s just like him to just know something’s wrong.   
“Um…I think you need to pick me up,” Gracilynn says.  
“What? Why? What happened? What it a guy?” Dean asks. Gracilynn rolls her eyes as she walks down the side of the road.   
“No, well, kind of, but not what you think,” Gracilynn tries to explain. “Listen, the cops are coming and I’m walking back to the hotel but they prolly shouldn’t really find me walking away from the lake.”  
“What?” Dean asks, confused, but already getting ready. Sam stands up, following his brothers lead.  
“I’ll explain in the car all right?” Gracilynn says.  
“Fine, where are you?” Dean asks, exiting the room with Sam at his heels and climbing in to the car.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Gracilynn is walking along the road and hears sirens, making her nervous. Come on dad, hurry up. Just when Gracilynn thinks she has to hide in the woods, she hears a more familiar sound. She looks up in the opposite direction and sees the Impala coming in her direction. She stops where she is and the Impala pulls up alongside her. Gracilynn opens the back door and climbs in, shutting the door behind her and leaning on the back of the front seat. Dean eases back on to the road and, doing a u-turn, drives back towards the hotel.   
“So?” Dean asks, looking back at her leaning on the front seat.   
“I think I found us a job,” Gracilynn says.   
“What? How?” Dean and Sam ask simultaneously, glancing back at her.  
“Well…” Gracilynn begins, “When I was at this…get together…”  
“Party,” Dean says, interrupting her.  
“Party,” Gracilynn says, giving her father a look, “A few of the other people were going in to the lake to go swimming and when they got to the water, this huge…snake thing came out and attacked them. It ended up getting a hold of one of the kids and when I got to him…”  
“You went near him when that thing was attacking him?” Dean asks, starting to get a little angry as a result of being worried.  
“It was gone by the time I started for the kid,” Gracilynn says. Dean gives her a look knowing full well if the thing was still there she still would’ve gone. “Anyways, when I got to him, he was covered in a bright red rash, and then these sores started appearing on him as well. Next thing I know, the kids’ convulsing and then he all of a sudden stops. When I felt for a pulse, there was none.”  
“A snake?” Dean asks, “That causes crazed out diseases and kills you?”  
“A huge one. And yeah, I guess,” Gracilynn answers.  
“Like on Harry Potter?” Sam asks for clarification. Dean and Gracilynn give Sam a look.  
“You watched Harry Potter?” they ask in unison.  
“Jess made me,” Sam says off-handedly.   
“Right,” Dean says.   
“So, what do you two think it is?” Gracilynn asks her dad and uncle.   
“I have no clue,” Dean replies.  
“I’ll have to look around. See what I can find,” Sam responds.  
“Thank God,” Gracilynn says. Sam and Dean look at her in confusion. She notices and smirks. “What? Researching is boring. And researching with dad is a pain in the ass.”  
Sam laughs and Dean just sends both of them a glare which only earns a smirk from Gracilynn and Sam laughing harder.

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The next morning, Gracilynn sleepily gets ready. They were up late looking up information on what this thing might be. Her dad told her to get to bed, but after seeing what had happened to the kid, it was almost like she had an obligation to figure this out. Eventually, Dean told her if “she didn’t go to bed he was going to knock her out one way or another.” But even after going to bed, she didn’t sleep very well at all. She had only gotten about four hours of restless sleep, and she was the kind of girl who needed nine every day.   
“Gracie, you ready?” Dean asks, already dressed and ready to go. He and Sam were going to go talk to the kids’ family and later on go to the morgue to talk to the coroner.   
“Mmhmm,” Gracilynn mumbles, practically sleepwalking to the door after her dad.   
“Let’s go Snow White,” Dean says.  
“I hate Snow White,” Gracilynn says. Dean smirks opening the door. “She’s so annoying. The only one worth seeing in that movie is Dopey…and Grumpy.”  
“Really?” Dean asks.  
“Yeah. Dopey’s my favorite. Why do you think I like you so much?” Gracilynn says, smirking. Sam chuckles from behind them.  
“I am not Dopey,” Dean says defensively, shooting both of them a glare.  
“You’re right,” Gracilynn says, her smirk growing. “You’re most like both Dopey and Grumpy.”  
Dean scowls but follows his daughter out the door as Sam’s phone rings. Sam waves as he answers it. Dean and Gracilynn climb in to the Impala and Dean starts it up. Just as he’s about to pull out, Sam comes scurrying out of the hotel room towards them. He opens the back door and climbs in.  
“What?” Dean asks.  
“The coroner called. Said he went in early. We can come by now if we want, take a look at the other bodies that fit the same description,” Sam says.  
“Wait, there’s other bodies?” Dean asks.  
“This things done this before?” Gracilynn asks.  
“Yeah, and more like three times before,” Sam answers.   
“Awesome,” Dean says, putting the car in reverse and backing out of the parking space.


	14. Chapter 14

Dean comes to a stop at the red light. He looks over to the passenger seat and sees Gracilynn’s head resting on the door, the breeze blowing through the open window. A new red camaro pulls up next to them, blaring it’s rap music overtop of their classic rock, it’s bass making the car shake. Gracilynn lifts her head slightly and glares at the car next to her. They were ruining her sleep and, maybe even more importantly, ACDC was playing and she loved this song. Gracilynn sits up and reaches over, turning the radio up higher, enough that she could hear it over the crap playing next to her. Dean watches her out of the corner of his eye, smirking. Sam shakes his head. The music next to them gets louder and Gracilynn looks over, seeing the guy pulling his hand from the radio. Gracilynn narrows her eyes and reaches over, turning the music up even more. Dean looks over at his daughter while Sam rolls his eyes.   
“What?” Gracilynn mouths, the music too loud for him to hear her without yelling. Dean chuckles, shaking his head. Truth is, Dean was glad she did it because if she didn’t, he would’ve. He looks up, hearing the car’s music also increase. It’s Dean’s turn to glare at the car next to him. Damn this light is taking forever to turn. Gracilynn huffs and reaches over to turn the music up higher, but Dean’s hand beats hers to it and he turns the music up to the max. The guys next to them look over and glare at them. Dean and Gracilynn grin and as soon as the light turns green, Dean slams on the gas, peeling away and leaving the guys in his dust. Once they are far enough away, Dean turns the music back down to a moderate level.  
“Seriously?” Sam says from the back seat, “What are you two? Four? I mean, I expect that from Dean but you Gracilynn?”  
“Dude, if I wanted to listen to that crap, I would’ve been doing so already,” Gracilynn says.  
“What about when you guys blast your music?” Sam points out.  
“They can shut their windows,” Dean says, sending a smirk his daughters’ way, who returns it with one of her own.   
“Hey dad?” Gracilynn says.  
“What?”  
“You know why they call it rap?” Gracilynn asks. Sam looks up at them.  
“Why?” Dean asks, knowing this is going to be good.  
“Because if they called it crap no one would listen to it,” Gracilynn says, smirking. Dean laughs along with Sam, who can’t help it.  
“Touché,” Dean says, holding out a fist. Gracilynn looks at it and fist bumps it, shaking her head.  
“You’re such a dork dad,” Gracilynn says smiling and looking out the window, just a little more awake than before.

 

Gracilynn shuts her locker door only to see Scott appear next to her. Gracilynn takes a step back out of habit.   
“Where’d you take off to last night?” Scott asks, “The cops wanted to talk to everyone there.”  
“No offense, but I don’t do cops,” Gracilynn says tightly. Scott looks at her curiously.  
“Bad experience?” he asks. Gracilynn shrugs.  
“I guess you could say that,” she says, beginning to walk to homeroom. Scott follows after her, quickly catching up.  
“What was that thing?” he asks, not really to anyone in particular. “I mean, did you see the way it went after Kevin?”  
“Yeah,” Gracilynn says, “I don’t know. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”  
“We?” Scott asks, stopping and looking at her, eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. Crap.  
“Well, when I say we I mean the cops and…stuff,” she says. Scott buys it and enters the classroom, followed by Gracilynn, who breathes a sigh of relief. The two of them sit down in their respective seats. Gracilynn looks over at Scott.  
“I heard there have been other weird deaths around here,” she says off-handedly. Scott shrugs his shoulders and looks over at her.  
“Yeah, a few of them,” he says.  
“You think maybe it’s the same thing that attacked Kevin?” Gracilynn asks.   
“Could be,” Scott says, “Or…”  
Scott’s sentence tapers off and Gracilynn looks over at him curiously, wondering what he is thinking.  
“Or what?” she asks.  
“Nothing,” he says.   
“You can’t start telling me something and then decide not to,” Gracilynn argues.  
“It’s just crazy talk,” Scott says, “A story my grandfather used to tell me and my little sister.”  
“What’s that?”  
“A giant snake that lives just about anywhere. The lakes, rivers, caves, forests…Would reach out from its’ hiding place and cause disease and death. He said Shamans would try to use its’ skin but they all died before they could get close enough,” Scott says. Gracilynn’s eyes widen.  
“Use its’ skin for what?” she asked. Scott looks at her strangely.  
“You can’t seriously be thinking this is real? It’s a ghost story my grandfather heard from his and started telling us,” Scott says.   
“I don’t know,” Gracilynn says, “This stuff interests me.”  
“Not sure exactly. Don’t think the Shamans really knew either,” Scott explains, “Think they were just trying to see if they could use it.”  
“Huh,” Gracilynn says, thinking about everything Scott just told her.   
“He did say it originated in North America though,” Scott adds as an afterthought, pulling Gracilynn from her thoughts. Now that we can work with. Narrow down the ginormous amount of ‘possibilities’ we found last night. Gracilynn makes a mental note to call her dad and uncle during her study hall and gathers her books to go to first period. 

 

“So, you think it’s this thing this kid was talking about?” Dean asks in to his phone.  
“I don’t know. Maybe. At the very least it’ll help narrow possibilities down,” Gracilynn says.  
“Where did he say this thing held up?” Sam asks. Dean had put his daughter on speaker phone.  
“Caves, rivers, lakes, the woods. Just about any of those places,” Gracilynn says.  
“That’s pretty broad,” Sam says, looking through their research from last night.  
“Yeah, but how many creatures hole up in all of those?” Gracilynn asks, “I mean, yeah, many could fit one of those, but all of them? And he said it originated in North America, so those two things should be able to narrow things down a lot right?”  
“She’s got a point,” Dean says to her brother.  
“I thought Dopey didn’t talk?” Sam says scowling at his brother.  
“I’m the new and improved Dopey,” Dean says, then after a pause, “Doc.”  
Gracilynn giggles over the phone as Sam shoots Dean with his patented Bitchface.  
“Does that make Uncle Bobby Grumpy?” Gracilynn asks.  
“Sure,” Dean answers, “And Cas could be…Bashful.”  
“So, we’re missing Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy?” Gracilynn asks.  
“I’m sure we could find someone,” Dean says.  
“Can we please get back on topic here?” Sam asks.  
“Sure thing Doc,” Dean says, smirking. Gracilynn smirks on the other end of the phone, practically hearing her uncle give her dad his Bitchface again.  
“I think I might’ve found what this thing is,” Sam says. Dean looks up at his brother. “I think it’s an Angont.”  
“A what?” Dean and Gracilynn ask in unison.  
“An Angont,” Sam repeats, “It fits the description you gave us Gracilynn and what that kid told you.”  
“Does it say how to kill it?” Dean asks. Sam browses the web page, stopping once or twice to read closer.  
“An iron knife to the heart,” Sam says.  
“You’re kidding right?” Gracilynn asks, “How the hell are we gonna get close enough to kill the damn thing?”  
Gracilynn quickly goes quite as a group of girls enter the room she’s in. Dean and Sam look at each other, eyebrows raised. She had a point.  
“And…where’s the damn heart?” Dean points out himself. Sam nods his head in agreement and goes back to the webpage and searches a little more. Everything is quite while he looks; right up until there is a flushing sound that comes through the phone. Dean raises an eyebrow, looking down at his phone.  
“Are you in the bathroom?” he asks, amused. Gracilynn rolls her eyes.  
“It’s the only place I could talk without people around everywhere,” Gracilynn whispers into the phone. The girls had started talking and she was trying to listen in to their conversation. Dean smirks in amusement.  
“Just below the head,” Sam suddenly says, quelling any smart remark from his brother to his niece.  
“What is?” Dean asks, forgetting what they were talking about.  
“Its’ heart,” Sam clears up, “It’s just below the things head.”  
“Oh, well that should be a piece of cake,” Gracilynn says, sounding a little rushed. Dean looks down at his phone again, confused at the sudden change in his daughters’ voice.  
“Why are you talking so weird?” he asks.  
“Huh?” Gracilynn asks, sidetracked. Dean mind instantly lands in the gutter and looks up at his brother, silently questioning. Sam shakes his head no. “Oh, there was a group of girls in here. They were talking about going down to the lake to see if they could get a glimpse of the thing that killed Kevin.”  
“When?” Sam and Dean ask, Dean silently thanking anyone it was only that.  
“During sixth period,” Gracilynn says.  
“When’s that?” they ask in unison again as a bell rings in the background over the phone. Gracilynn enter the hallway and looks in both directions.  
“Now,” she says.


	15. Chapter 15

Dean speeds down the road, hoping to get to the lake soon. His hands are gripping the steering wheel and his body is all tensed. Sam keeps glancing at him, which is beginning to get annoying.  
“What Sam?” Dean asks tersely.  
“I’m sure we’ll get there in time to save those kids Dean,” Sam says.   
“It’s not the kids I’m worried about,” Dean grinds out. Sam looks over at him, confused.  
“What? Then who?” he asks.  
“It’s Gracilynn,” Dean says. Sam looks at him, still confused, but then the cloud lifts and he realizes what his brother is getting at.  
“You don’t think she’d follow them do you?” Sam asks.  
“It’s what we’d do,” Dean says. Sam looks at the road ahead of them, worry evident on his face now too, because if the creature showed up again? Put those girls in danger? They both knew Gracilynn wouldn’t just stand by and watch, hoping they’d get there soon. And now that she knows how to kill the damn thing?   
“Son of a Bitch!” Dean yells, smacking his steering wheel as he pulls to a stop behind a whole line of cars. “What the hell!?”  
Sam tries to look ahead of them, but can’t really see anything. He turns on the radio to see if they can find out what’s going on.  
“…Just outside of town there has been an accident between two cars. Not sure how long the delay will be but don’t think it’ll be a short one folks…”  
“Son of a Bitch!” Dean shouts again. He looks behind him and not seeing anyone, he puts the car in reverse and turns around, pulling the car off the road on the dirt, shutting the car off.  
“Dean?” Sam asks as his brother climbs out of the car. Sam follows after him, shutting the door behind him.  
“We can’t wait,” Dean says impatiently. Sam watches his brother, but nods his head in understanding. The two of them, search through the trunk, grabbing the weapons they’ll need. Dean shuts the trunk and takes off into the woods at a jog. Sam quickly follows after him, easily catching up due to his long legs. At least Gracilynn doesn’t have an iron knife, they both think.

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Gracilynn sneaks up to the tree line, watching the group of freshman stop on the beach. They stood there, watching the water, waiting for something to happen. Gracilynn pulls out the iron pipe she had found in the janitors closet before taking off after the group. It wasn’t a knife but it’d do the trick.  
“Stupid damn freshmen,” she mumbles under her breath, “Gonna get themselves friggin’ killed.”  
One of the girls starts making her way to the edge of the water. Dammit, just stay where you are. Gracilynn stands up from her crouched position, ready to make her way towards the group, raising the pipe slightly. She takes a step forward only to hear someone walking up behind her. She whirls around, raising the pipe ready to strike. She abruptly stops herself, seeing her dad and uncle standing in front of her. Dean raises his eyebrows.  
“What the hell were you planning on doing with that?” he asks.  
“Bash your head in,” Gracilynn says, lowering it. Dean eyes it carefully.  
“That iron?” he asks, already knowing the answer.  
“Yeah, found it in the janitors’ closet,” Gracilynn says, turning back around to watch the group of kids. Dean shoots his brother a look. The two of them follow Gracilynn’s gaze to the group of kids and sees one of the girls reach the edge of the water.  
“Dammit,” Dean mutters, aggravated at peoples’ stupidity. He takes off towards the water, Sam hot on his heels. Gracilynn begins to follow them but Dean turns around quickly and points directly at her. “Stay there.”  
Gracilynn stops in her tracks, wanting to go help but her dad seldom ordered her to do anything, that she was torn with what she should do. She watches helplessly as her dad and uncle reach the kids, her dad yelling something to her uncle and continues to run to the edge of the water. Sam is herding the kids back to the tree line as Gracilynn sees the water begin to bubble.   
“Son of a Bitch,” she says as the Angont rises from the lake. She takes another step forward but reluctantly stops herself. She could put her father in more danger if she joins him. The group of kids join her and Sam gives her a warning look and heads back to Dean. The Angont shoots forwards and Dean shoves the girl out of the way, the two of them narrowly missing being hit. The serpents head retracts back and eyes Dean and Sam, wondering who it should attack first. The girl begins slowly crawling backwards and Dean shifts to the side, trying to get the snakes attention. While the snakes’ eyes are on Dean, Sam begins to edge closer to it. Just as he gets close enough to try to do anything, the snake slams its’ tail into Sam, sending him sprawling onto the beach. With one threat gone, the Angont focuses its’ attention back onto Dean. Out of the corner of its eye, it sees the girl moving backwards and sees her as easy prey. It quickly shifts and charges at her, barely coming into contact with her, but still hitting her nonetheless.   
“Shit,” Gracilynn says, seeing her dad take a run at the serpent and slamming a knife into the space just below its head. The Angont screams and drops onto the shore. Gracilynn lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and watches as her dad begins to make his way to the girl. Suddenly, Sam’s yell breaks through.  
“Dean!” Dean turns around quickly and Gracilynn’s eyes shoot to the snake. It was still dead on the beach but the water behind it was beginning to balloon up.   
“No frickin’ way,” Gracilynn says seeing a second serpent appear.   
The creature automatically sees Dean as the threat and shoots an aggressive attack, narrowly missing him as he dodges out of the way. Sam finds his bearings and gets to his feet, running for the second serpent to help his brother. Without realizing it, Gracilynn finds herself coming to a sliding stop on her knees next to the girl. She quickly pulls of her belt and ties it around the girls’ left leg, above where the Angont grazed her. The girl looks at her, silently pleading for her to help her.   
“I have to stop the poison from working its’ way through your system,” Gracilynn explains. Hopefully it hasn’t already gotten past this part yet.   
She hears her dad and uncle fighting with the angry snake behind her, hoping the thing doesn’t pay any attention to her. The girls’ leg is already covered in the red rash. Gracilynn wracks her brain for any idea what to do to save this girl when something Scott says hits her. “He said Shamans would try to use its’ skin but they all died before they could get close enough.” Gracilynn’s head whips around and sees the dead Angont behind her. It’s worth a shot. She quickly crawls to its’ side, trying not to attract any attention and looks at the skin of the serpent. She pulls out the knife from her boot and begins chopping away at the neck of the beast. When she has finally cut a big enough section to cover the girls’ leg, Gracilynn begins dragging it back to her. Dropping down next to the girl, Gracilynn looks at the wounded limb. The sores had already started appearing and it wasn’t long until the convulsions started. She quickly pulled the piece of skin onto the leg, putting the skin part onto the wounds. Gracilynn makes a face at the disgusting piece of bloody flesh in front of her. Gracilynn hears a smack and the next thing she knows is she is being plowed over by something hitting her back and she slams into the girl in front of her. More importantly, the messy, bloody, piece of flesh on the girls’ leg.   
“This is so gross,” Gracilynn whines, then realizing she was hit with someone. She peers behind her and sees her dad lying on the ground. She pushing herself up, trying not to pay attention to the squelch coming from the flesh underneath her. She turns around to get a better look at her dad and hears him groan right before he slowly sits up. Gracilynn looks up in time to see the second Angont make a beeline for her and her dad. Her eyes widen but a body flies out in front of them, ramming into the beasts neck, knocking it down. Gracilynn watches as her uncle slams an iron knife into the creatures’ heart as hard as he can. The Angont screams, fighting against him, but then falls limply to the ground beneath him.   
Sam wipes his face and stands up, looking over at them. Dean slowly pushes himself to a sitting position, letting out a groan as he does so. Sam begins walking over to them and Gracilynn hears a groan behind her. She looks back at the girl and sees her trying to prop herself up on her elbows. Gracilynn gently lifts up the Angont skin and sees that the sores and rash are completely gone. Gracilynn pulls the skin completely off and chucks it to the side. Seeing that the girl is okay, Gracilynn focuses her attention back on to her dad and uncle. Sam is kneeling in front of them, checking Dean over for any injuries, while Dean is complaining about him being a mother hen. Dean notices that Gracilynn is paying attention and peers at her over his shoulder.  
“You alright?” he asks. Sam looks over at her, his eyes widening at the blood all over her shirt.  
“‘M fine,” Gracilynn says, noticing her uncles’ look. Dean sees it too and turns around to get a better look at her, his own eyes widening at the sight of her. He immediately goes into protective mode and begins searching for the source of the blood. Gracilynn grabs her father’s hands and still him.  
“It’s fine dad. It’s from the skin,” she says, nodding to the piece behind her. Dean looks over her shoulder and sees the bloody mess and lets out a sigh. He also takes in the girl behind her as well, Sam noticing her too.  
“You okay?” Sam asks. The girl tentatively nods her head, not sure what to say, staring at them. Dean’s gaze instantly goes to her leg and sees it looks brand new. He looks at his daughter.  
“What happened?” he asks.  
“I remembered Scott saying the Shaman were trying to use the skin so I thought what if they were trying to use it to heal those who were bitten by the thing. I sliced off a piece and put it on the leg. Looks like it worked,” Gracilynn explains.  
“Yeah,” Dean says, standing up with Sam’s help. Gracilynn stands up with them and the three of them look at the girl. “Listen, we can’t really be here when the cops come.”  
The girl nods in understanding and Sam pulls out his phone, quickly making the phone call. Gracilynn smiles at her and follows her dad and uncle back to the tree line. The other group of kids inch their way out, looking to Dean and Sam for guidance.  
“It’s clear,” Dean says, “You should go help your friend.”  
They all nod and slowly make their way over to the girl lying down in the sand. Dean looks back at his daughter, taking in the sight of her. Gracilynn feels her dad’s eyes on her and looks away from the group of teens and looks at her dad.  
“What?” she asks.  
“You should change out of that shirt,” he says.   
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” Gracilynn says sarcastically, “Let me just weave a bunch of leaves together and tie it around me.”  
Sam snorts and Dean rolls his eyes. He takes off his button up shirt and hands it to her. Gracilynn grabs it and going behind a tree, takes off the bloodied shirt and throws her dad’s shirt on, buttoning it up. She comes back out to meet her dad and uncle and gives them a look.  
“Can we go now?” she says and the two of them smile softly.  
“Yeah, we can go now,” Dean says, leading the way back to the car.


	16. Chapter 16

Gracilynn packs her belongings in to her bag. She is slightly disappointed she isn’t able to say goodbye to Scott. Guaranteed they had only known each other for a week, but Gracilynn knew there was something there. Not that it would become anything serious what with her dad and uncles’ “jobs”, but it would’ve been fun while it last. And it’s not like she could ask her dad if she could go say bye, he’d…well all hell would break loose.   
“I’m gonna go put my bag in the car,” Gracilynn says, zipping up her bag and hoisting it onto her shoulder. Dean nods his head and tosses her the keys. Gracilynn catches them easily and exits the room. She walks to the back of the Impala and unlocks it, lifting the trunk and throwing the bag inside. She hears a car pull up next to her and she looks over. Scott exits the car and walks over to her. Gracilynn shuts the trunk and turns to look at him.  
“You leaving?” Scott asks, eyeing the trunk of the Impala. Gracilynn glances down at it, then shifts her eyes back to him.   
“Yeah,” Gracilynn answers, “My dad’s job…”  
Scott nods his head, shoving his hands in his jacket pocket. He looks around and Gracilynn watches him curiously. Scott looks back at her and takes a deep breath.  
“Listen, I want to thank you,” Scott says. Gracilynn furrows her eyebrows, completely confused.  
“For what?” she asks.  
“My sister came home yesterday, completely messed up. Told me her and a few friends went down to the lake to try to get a look at the monster. Said the thing bit her,” Scott says. Gracilynn connects the dots.  
“Oh,” she says.  
“Said you and two guys came out of nowhere and killed the thing. She said you saved her life,” Scott continues. Gracilynn shrugs.  
“It was nothing, don’t worry about it,” Gracilynn says.   
“It was something though. It was my baby sister,” Scott enforces, “So thanks.”  
Scott leans forward and kisses Gracilynn on the lips, his hands going to the sides of her face. Gracilynn’s own hands grab his jacket. Scott pulls away and looks down at her, smiling.  
“If you’re ever back in town give me a call,” he says. Gracilynn nods her head. Scott smirks, giving her a quick kiss on the lips before climbing back in to his car. Gracilynn watches him leave, turning to the motel, seeing her dad and uncle looking out the window, her uncles’ hand on her dads’ shoulder.

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The door shuts behind Gracilynn as she walks out to go put her bag in the Impala. Dean zips up his own bag as Sam does a once over of the motel room to make sure they didn’t forget anything. Dean hears a car pull up in front of their room and a car door shut. He looks up, hearing the trunk shut as well. He sees a teenage boy walk up to Gracilynn and the two of them talking. He watches curiously, setting his bag on the chair and walking over to the window. Sam looks over at his brother, trying to figure out what he is doing. He walks over to the window himself just in time to see the kid kiss his niece. His eyes open wide and he looks over at Dean, hearing him move next to him. Dean has a scowl on his face, his right hand coming around from his back holding his gun, taking a step towards the door. Sam grabs his arm and Dean glares at him.  
“Dean,” Sam says, “You’re not going to kill the guy.”  
“Dude, I can shoot the guy without killing him,” Dean argues. Sam gives him the look and Dean does everything but stomp his foot in defeat. He puts the gun back in the back of his back and crosses his arms, sulking. They look back out the window and the guy kisses her quickly and climbs back in his car. Sam feels his brother tense up again and he puts a hand on his shoulder. Gracilynn looks over at the window and sees them, the look on her face priceless. She slowly walks over to the door and enters the room, giving them a sheepish look.   
“Let’s go,” Dean says, grabbing his bag and leading the way out to the car. 

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Gracilynn slouches in the backseat of the Impala, watching her dad in the drivers’ seat. Sam had been trying to make small talk but the one word answers from Dean wasn’t helping at all. Dean sighs heavily and looks at his daughter in the rearview mirror.  
“Really?” Dean asks confused. Gracilynn sits up a little straighter, it was the first word her dad had said to her since they left the motel a half an hour ago.  
“Really what?” she asks.  
“Was that him?” he asks, “The kid that told you all that stuff about the serpent wannabe?”  
“Uh…yeah,” Gracilynn answers, not sure where this conversation is going.  
“So, what? He tells you about the damn thing and then he randomly come by the motel to kiss you?” Dean says.  
“Dean,” Sam warns.  
“Shut up Sam,” Dean counters, looking at him briefly before returning to look at Gracilynn through the mirror.   
“Well, that girl we saved was his little sister,” Gracilynn explains, “He was just thanking me.”  
“Two words,” Dean says, holding up two fingers, “And if he’s really good, he could’ve done it in one.”  
“Dad,” Gracilynn says.  
“Saying ‘thanks’ does not involve his lips on yours,” Dean points out.   
“It does when a girl thanks you,” Gracilynn counters. Dean glares at her.  
“That’s different,” Dean says, ignoring the amused expression on Sam’s face.  
“How?” Gracilynn asks.  
“Because it just is,” Dean says. Gracilynn huffs and slouches back into the seat, crossing her arms.  
“What are you going to do when I get laid?” Gracilynn argues.  
“I won’t have to worry about that ‘cause it ain’t gonna happen,” Dean says pointedly looking at his daughter. Gracilynn rolls his eyes.  
“But it will, eventually,” Gracilynn says in return.  
“Then I guess I’ll have a real reason for being on America’s Most Wanted list,” Dean says, looking back at the road, effectively ending the conversation by turning up the music. Gracilynn looks over at her uncle for some help but he was fighting too hard to control his amusement that he wasn’t going to be any help whatsoever. Gracilynn huffs and glares out the window. Sometimes being Dean Winchesters daughter really sucks!


	17. Chapter 17

Dean pulls in to the diner parking lot and shuts the car off. The three Winchesters climb out and make their way in to the diner, the bells hanging on the door jingling as they open it. Dean looks around and heads to a table towards the back by the window and Sam and Gracilynn trail after him. Dean goes to the booth facing the door and waits for Gracilynn to catch up.   
“In,” he says, pointing to the booth in front of him. Gracilynn rolls her eyes but slides in to the booth anyways. Sam smirks, but then gives Gracilynn a sympathetic smile, knowing exactly how she feels under the overprotective wing of Dean.   
“Are you seriously still pissed about the whole Scott thing?” Gracilynn grumbles.   
“Don’t start,” Dean warns, “You’re the one who was making out with some guy I never even heard about.”  
“We weren’t making out and I did tell you about him,” Gracilynn points out.   
“When?” Dean asks.  
“When I told you what he said about the Angont,” Gracilynn says.  
“And what? You didn’t think to mention he was into you?” Dean counters.  
“Hell no!” Gracilynn says, “Because I know how you would react.”  
Dean glares at her but any remark he had planned shooting back was stopped by their waitress appearing at their table. They give her their order and wait for it to come out. Gracilynn’s phone begins ringing and she looks at it, rolling her eyes and putting it back in her pocket, silencing it. Sam glances up at her but Dean doesn’t pay attention being too busy watching their waitress walk away from bringing their drinks. Sam doesn’t think anything of it until five minutes later when her phone rings again and she does the same thing. This time he furrows his eyebrows wondering what is going on. Dean catches on to the fact she isn’t answering her phone as well. Gracilynn knows they are watching her but ignores them. After the third time this happens, Dean tosses the paper he is reading on to the table and leans back in the booth, resting his arm on the back of it and looking at his daughter.  
“There a reason you’re not answering your phone?” Dean asks. Sam watches her, wanting to know the answer to that question as well.   
“We’re eating,” Gracilynn says. Dean studies her for a moment but looks up as their waitress sets their food on the table. She gives Dean a smile, which he returns but not with his usual mirth. He looks back at his daughter when she leaves, seeing her silence her phone once again.  
“It seems to be pretty important,” Dean points out.  
“It can wait,” Gracilynn says, taking a bite of her food.  
“You sure?” Sam joins in.  
“Yeah,” Gracilynn says, glaring at her phone as it starts going off again.   
“Maybe you should get it,” Sam says, glancing at Dean.   
“I said it was fine,” Gracilynn says, looking pointedly at her uncle.  
“Alright,” Dean and Sam say in unison, raising their hands in submission and digging in to their own food, both of them knowing there was definitely something going on that she wasn’t telling them. 

 

Gracilynn is laying down on one of the motel beds reading a magazine. Dean’s in the shower and Sam had gone out to grab some dinner. Gracilynn looks over at her phone as it goes off and she rolls her eyes, groaning. She looks over at the bathroom door and, coming to the conclusion her dad won’t be out for awhile, picks up her phone and answers it.  
“Gracilynn?” Harriet asks into the phone.   
“What grandma?” Gracilynn asks in return, annoyance evident in her voice.  
“Have you thought about what we talked about?” Harriet asks.  
“Yeah, and I’m still staying with dad,” Gracilynn answers.  
“Sweetheart, I just…I’m scared for your safety,” Harriet says. Gracilynn huffs.  
“I’m fine grandma. Being with dad is the safest I’ve ever been,” Gracilynn says impatiently.  
“That’s not what the man said yesterday,” Harriet confronts. Gracilynn narrows her eyebrows.  
“He visited you again?” she asks, starting to get a little angry, “I thought I said not to listen to that asshat.”  
“Well, when he’s telling me that your father almost got you killed a few times, that he disappeared and left you for two days!” Harriet practically yells into the receiver. Gracilynn sucks in a breath. How the hell…? Stupid Zach!  
“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. You shouldn’t listen to him,” Gracilynn says as the front door opens and Sam walks in. Gracilynn glances at him and gives him a look.  
“I don’t like it. He told me where you are. We’re coming to get you,” Harriet says. Gracilynn’s eyes widen.  
“What?! No! Grandma I’m fine, stay at the house,” Gracilynn says.   
“Too late, we’re about a half an hour away,” Harriet says. Gracilynn starts to panic, her breathes coming in shallow.  
“No! Grandma go back! What the hell are you doing?!” Gracilynn yells. The bathroom door opens and Dean comes out fully dressed and looking at his daughter trying to figure out why she’s yelling. She looks panicky and Dean looks over at his brother trying to figure out what is going on. Sam looks worried but he shrugs his shoulders not having a clue as to what is going on.  
“We figured you’d say something like that,” Harriet says with pity in her voice, “That’s why we got help.”  
“What are you talking about?” Gracilynn asks quietly, feeling sick to her stomach.  
“Gracie what’s going on?” Dean asks, coming towards her.  
“This is for your own good sweetheart,” Harriet says.  
“Grandma who did you call?” Gracilynn asks breathlessly.   
“The only people who can help in this situation,” Harriet says cryptically.  
“Grandma…”  
“CPS, Gracie Bear,” Harriet says.   
All the color drains from Gracilynn’s face and Dean suddenly feels sick to his own stomach. He had never seen his daughter look like that before. Sam leaves the table and walks over to his brother and niece, seeing the same thing Dean had. A dark vehicle and a cop car pulls up to the motel and a well-dressed woman and man and two police officers climb out of them. Gracilynn’s eyes begin to well up.  
“No. No, no, no, no,” Gracilynn mutters, forgetting her dad and uncle are right there. Dean tries to get her to look at him but she can’t seem to hear him. Sam walks over to the window and sees the group walk up to the door and knock. He turns around and looks at Dean and Gracilynn. Dean looks really worried, not sure what to do.  
“Police officer’s, open the door,” a man’s voice says through the closed door. Gracilynn shakes her head, dropping her phone. Not knowing what else to do, Sam opens the door and the group piles in. The man walks straight towards Gracilynn who steps back quickly.  
“Dad?” Gracilynn says in fear. Dean quickly steps in front of her.  
“What the hell’s going on here?” he asks angrily.  
“CPS Mr. Winchester,” the woman says, handing him a piece of paper. “We got a call from the girls’ grandparents worried about her well being. We have to take her with us until it is proven you can properly take care of her.”  
“Whoa, wait a minute,” Dean says holding his hands up, “This makes no sense.”  
“Sir, please don’t make this any harder than it should be,” the woman says, nodding to the officers to step in. The officer walks over to Dean and grabs him by the arm. Seeing this, Gracilynn latches on to her dad’s shirt. The officer pulls Dean away from Gracilynn and Dean starts struggling. Seeing Gracilynn not letting go, the man with the glasses grabs her and pulls her away from Dean. Sam, not being able to stand the sight, tries to step in but the other uniformed officer steps in and controls him. The man in the glasses begins pulling her out of the motel room, practically dragging her as a result of her struggles.   
“Dad!” Gracilynn yells, panicking, grabbing anything she can to prevent herself from going in the car. “Dad!”  
A car pulls up in time to see Gracilynn being pulled towards the dark car and Harriet and Thomas climb out of the newly arrived car. Dean has managed to struggle his way to the open door, but the cop has a secure hold on him not allowing him to break free. Gracilynn feels tears fall down her face, looking at her father, still struggling against the man. She hears the car doors slam and her grandmother calling her name. Her head whips around to see them approaching her.   
“Gracilynn,” Harriet says, reaching a hand out to her.  
“I hate you!” Gracilynn yells, “I’ll never forgive you for this! Ever!”  
The rest of what she says is muffled out by the man putting her in the car and shutting the door, locking them so she can’t escape. Harriet looks heartbroken, but she doesn’t say anything, just stares at her granddaughter. Gracilynn ignores her and stares at her dad and uncle in the open doorway, not taking her eyes off them, tears streaming down her face, even as they drive off.


	18. Chapter 18

“Dean?” Sam asks, sitting down next to his brother up against the wall. Dean doesn’t move; doesn’t even acknowledge he heard him. Sam hesitates before calling out to him again. “Dean?”  
Dean startles, looking at Sam out of the corner of his eye. He eyes were rimmed red, tear stains were on his face. Now that Sam has his attention, he’s not sure what to say.   
“Dean, we’ll…we’ll find a way around this,” Sam says hesitantly. Dean glares at him.  
“Really?” Dean asks angrily, “How? We can’t do anything Sam! If they look into us, all they’re going to find is what happened with the shapeshifter! What happened in St. Louis! We’re screwed! I can’t get her back! I lost her.”  
“Dean,” Sam says. Dean looks at him, a tear rolling down his cheek. “Maybe Bobby has an idea.”  
“I doubt it,” Dean says sarcastically, snorting in angry humor. Sam sighs, leaning back against the wall, close enough that his shoulder touches his brothers; just enough to let his brother know that he’s there for him. It worked in the past hopefully it’ll work now even after all the crap they’ve been through.  
“I have no clue what to do Sam,” Dean whispers another tear escaping his welling eyes. Sam feels his own eyes welling up. He blinks, fresh tears falling down his face.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Gracilynn angrily walks in to her grandparents house. CPS had given them temporary custody of her until they found out what was going on with her dad. Harriet and Thomas walk in after her. Her grandma had been trying to have a conversation with her the whole car ride to their house; tried to make nice. All Gracilynn did was ignore her and stare out the window; she didn’t trust herself to say anything.   
“Gracie,” Harriet says affectionately. Gracilynn rounds on her.  
“Don’t!” she yells, “Don’t you dare call me that!”  
“Sweetheart, this was for the best,” Harriet says trying to defend her actions. Gracilynn approaches her, pointing her finger at her.  
“You screwed up the best thing that had ever happened to me!” she says, then looking at her in disbelief, “What the hell happened to you? You used to understand, now...”  
Harriet and Thomas look at her waiting for her to finish. Gracilynn’s anger rises again.  
“If you think things can be the same between us, you thought wrong. I will never forgive you for this,” Gracilynn says with venom. She turns around curtly and stomps up the stairs to the guest bedroom.   
Gracilynn slams the door behind her and leans up against it, taking in a few deep breaths. She closes her eyes, feeling her emotions rise up again. Going against her, tears begin falling from underneath her closed lids and she angrily wipes them away. She opens her eyes and looks around the room. There has to be something I can do. Anything. She reaches in her pocket to pull out her phone and begins cussing, realizing she had dropped it back at the motel room.   
“Dammit,” she mutters. She looks around the room, her eyes falling on the picture above the dresser. Her eyes narrow and she stares at it, suddenly realization dawning on her, her eyes growing wide. Angels. Cas. Gracilynn quietly walks over to the door and opens it, listening for any noise down the stairs. She hears her grandmother in the kitchen and her grandfather in the living room, watching some old war movie. She slinks back in the room, silently closing the door. She quickly makes her way to the window and opens it, looking around outside before she crawls out and latches on to the lattice next to her window. She climbs down and looks around. Not seeing anyone, she runs to the woods behind the house.   
They weren’t that far out of town so the woods weren’t that big, but they would suffice. She runs until she can’t see any house around her and looks up at the sky. She takes a deep breath, hoping beyond hope that he’ll be able to hear her.  
“Cas! I really need you right now! Please!” Gracilynn begins yelling, “Cas!”  
Gracilynn turns around and jumps, the angel standing right next to her.   
“Jesus Cas,” she grumbles. Cas cocks his head.  
“I assure you I am not…” he begins, but Gracilynn cuts him off.  
“Never mind,” she says hurriedly, “I need a favor.”  
Cas looks around them, only seeing trees. He looks back at her curiously.  
“Where is your dad and uncle?” he asks.  
“That’s just it,” Gracilynn says, “Zach’s been interfering. He ended up convincing my grandparents that I wasn’t safe with them. They called CPS on him.”  
“CPS?” Cas asks confusedly.  
“Child Protective Services. They take away children who are not safe with their parents,” Gracilynn explains. Cas nods his head in understanding but then looks confused again.  
“But you are safe with your father,” he says.  
“I know, but my grandmother didn’t believe so. Zach remember?” Gracilynn says impatiently. Cas nods his head. “I need to get out of here. Get back with dad and Uncle Sam.”  
“Of course,” Cas says walking towards her. Gracilynn steps back, putting her hands up.  
“Wait. You can’t just zap me there. They’ll come looking for me. There has to be a way we can do this so they don’t do that,” Gracilynn says, then begins pacing, talking to herself. Cas watches her, intrigued. “Too bad we couldn’t just erase me from their memories.”  
“We can,” Cas says matter-of-factly. Gracilynn’s head shoots up.  
“What?” she asks.  
“We can. Erase you from their memories,” Cas explains.  
“Let’s do it then,” Gracilynn says, already making her way back the way she came.  
“Are you sure?” Cas asks. Gracilynn turns and looks at him.  
“Positive,” she says.  
“This is a pretty big favor,” Cas says, watching her.  
“I know, we’d not only have to erase my grandparents memories but also the CPS workers and cops that were there,” Gracilynn says to herself, “But it’s the only way.”  
Cas looks at her, not sure if he should do this. Gracilynn silently pleads him with her eyes.  
“It’ll take a lot of energy out of me. Especially now that I’m not at my full potential,” Cas says.  
“Cas,” Gracilynn says, walking up to him, “I have only ever asked for your help once. And that was because dad had disappeared. I don’t think of myself as being selfish but right now I’m going to be. I need you to do this for me. I can’t leave them. They need me. My dad needs me.”  
“Very well,” Cas says after a pause, “I’ll let you know when it’s done.”  
With that, Cas disappears and Gracilynn blinks looking around seeing only her and the trees. She bites her bottom lip, hoping that she’s doing the right thing.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

“You get a hold of Cas yet?” Sam asks his brother as he walks out to Bobby’s backyard. They came here shortly after they took Gracilynn away, Dean letting Sam drive the whole way. Dean swivels around and looks at his brother, the look on his face desperate and broken.   
“No,” he says hoarsely. He had been screaming for him for the past three hours and had nothing to show for it. “Bobby come up with anything?”  
Sam looks at his brother, his expression full of defeat. He shakes his head and looks over at the Impala. Dean forces a swallow down trying to gain control of his emotions. He runs his hand through his hair and then down his face. Sam looks at his brother. He was feeling anxious and desperate so his brother must be feeling three times as worse. Lord knows he looks it. They had been trying to find anything that would help them get Gracilynn back without putting Dean on death row but no such luck. Cas was their last chance.   
“He’ll come, Dean,” Sam says, not knowing what else to say.  
“Yeah,” Dean says unbelievingly. Knowing words aren’t going to help his brother, Sam settles for just sticking close silently letting his brother know he’s there.


	19. Chapter 19

Gracilynn sits on the park bench watching the families walk by and picnic. She scoffs at the normalcy of it all. Before her mom died this was her life, now? Now it’s not even close to being her life and she’s okay with that. She loves her life with her dad and uncle and no way is she going to give it up. She hears a flutter of wings and she looks to her right, seeing Cas sitting next to her.  
“It is done,” he says looking at the families himself.  
“They have no memories of me?” Gracilynn asks, not wanting to get her hopes up just yet.  
“None,” Cas says, “And the officers and PCS people might have lost your file too.”  
“CPS,” Gracilynn corrects.  
“What is?” Cas asks confused.  
“Nothing, never mind,” Gracilynn says, “Thanks Cas. I really appreciate this.”  
“It wasn’t a problem,” Cas says. Gracilynn looks at him and sees the exhaustion and strain in his face. “I would, as you and your father say, zap you to Dean but I don’t have the energy just yet.”  
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take a bus,” Gracilynn says.  
“How will you know where they are?” Castiel asks her.  
“They’ll go one place they’ll feel safe. Where they can get help from someone they trust,” Gracilynn says. Cas looks at her.  
“Bobby’s,” he says.  
“Yeah,” Gracilynn replies. “Thanks again Cas.”  
“Be careful,” he says.  
“Careful’s my middle name,” Gracilynn says standing up.  
“I think you are mistaken by what careful means,” Cas points out. Gracilynn smirks and Cas can’t help but think she looks just like her father.  
“See ya around Cas,” Gracilynn says, waving and turning around, heads to the bus station.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

“I’m going to run into town and get the pizza,” Sam says to Bobby and Dean. Dean continues to stare at the TV, but Bobby looks up at him and nods his head.  
“Pick up some beer while you’re at it,” Bobby says, looking back at the TV.  
“You want some pie too?” Sam asks, hoping his brother will say something, but he doesn’t. Bobby looks up at him again, this time shooting him a sympathy smile.  
“Sure kid,” he says. Sam nods his head, crestfallen at the lack of response from his brother. He wishes there was something he could do to get Gracilynn back but they’ve exhausted all possibilities and Cas isn’t answering them so… Sam grabs the keys to the Impala and exits out the front door.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

The bus pulls in to the bus parking lot in Sioux Falls and Gracilynn can’t help but feel relieved she finally made it. She was expecting something to go wrong and her grandparents would appear and drag her back to their house. Or worse, the cops or CPS workers. She lets out a big sigh and stands up, walking down the bus isle and out the doors. She looks around to see if she can find a way to get to Bobby’s house but instead, she sees a very familiar Chevy Impala parked across the street at the corner store. She feels a smile tug on her lips as she sees her uncle walk out carrying a case of beer. Just as he shuts the back door she approaches him.  
Sam feels someone behind him, but it doesn’t feel threatening. He turns around and his eyes grow huge at the sight of his smiling niece standing before him. He opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out, making him look like a fish out of water.   
“Hey Uncle Sammy,” Gracilynn says quietly, the smile never leaving her face.  
“How…?” Sam asks, trailing off.  
“I got Cas to help me,” Gracilynn explains.  
“No wonder he hasn’t been answering us,” Sam mutters to himself. He looks at his niece and a smile appears on his own face. He holds out his arms wide and gestures for her to come over. “Come here squirt.”  
Gracilynn’s smile broadens and she runs over and rams into him, sending Sam back a couple of steps. Gracilynn squeezes him tight, which Sam returns, happy she’s back with them. Reluctantly, he pulls back and looks at his niece, tears in his eyes.  
“Thank God you’re okay,” he says, “Dean’s gonna…”  
“He back at Uncle Bobby’s?” Gracilynn asks.  
“Yeah,” Sam says, “Come on, let’s go.”  
With that, Sam and Gracilynn climb into the Impala and Sam starts the car, putting it in reverse. He squeals off down the road at a rapid pace, not being able to wait to see his brothers’ face.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Sam pulls up to Bobby’s house and shuts the car off. He climbs out of the car and grabs the pizza and beer. Gracilynn, after climbing out of the front seat tries to grab the pizza from him.  
“Here, let me grab the pizza,” she says. Sam pulls away from her.  
“You stay here,” Sam says, smirking. He walks up to the house and bangs on the screen door. “Hey, Dean. A little help here!”  
Gracilynn waits by the Impala, holding her breath. She couldn’t wait to see her father again. Guaranteed it’d only been a few days, but still. She had thought it was going to be forever. She hears footsteps and grumbling as Bobby opens the door for her uncle.   
“Where’s Dean?” Sam asks.  
“On the couch,” Bobby says, grabbing the pizza from Sam.  
“I need him to come out here,” Sam says.  
“Boy, I don’t think your brother is gonna…” Bobby starts but trails off as Sam steps to the side and Bobby sees Gracilynn leaning up against the Impala. “I’ll be damned.”  
Bobby nearly drops the pizza but catches it just in time. He looks at Sam who has a huge smile on his face. Bobby feels his own smile beginning to form. He disappears in to the house, leaving Sam standing on the porch. Bobby sets the pizza on the counter and turns to Dean.  
“Boy, your little brother needs your help outside. You had better get out there,” Bobby says.  
“I think he can handle a case of beer Bobby,” Dean says, not taking his eyes off the TV.  
“Well, yeah that he can,” Bobby says, an idea forming in his mind, “But the big dent in the front of the car he can’t.”  
“What?!” Dean asks, his head whipping around to face Bobby. Bobby puts a hesitant look on his face. Dean jumps out of the couch and rushes to the front door, slamming the screen door open, ramming into Sam as he exits the house. Dean glares at his brother.  
“‘The hell Sam!” Dean yells. Sam looks at him, confused at Dean’s anger. Must’ve been something Bobby said to get him out here. Sam grins at him and Dean looks as if he’s ready to hit him. Sam steps to the side and looks over at the Impala. Dean shoots one last glare at his brother and then looks over towards the Impala. The anger quickly diminishes and he feels a lump in his throat. He tries to swallow around it but isn’t too successful. Dean looks over at his brother who is still grinning and then looks back at his daughter leaning up against the car. Dean feels tears well up in his eyes.  
“Gracie?” he asks, walking down the stairs to the grass below.   
“Hey Dad,” she says, smiling through her own set of tears. Dean begins to open his arms, but before he gets them even halfway open, he is plowed backwards by Gracilynn leaping into his arms. She hugs him tight, not wanting to let go. Dean hugs her just as tight, not wanting to let go of her himself. He runs his hand through her hair and kisses the top of her head, hearing her sob into his shoulder. He feels a tear fall down his cheek.  
“I love you dad,” Gracilynn says into his shirt.  
“I love you too baby,” Dean says into her hair, squeezing her tighter.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

“How are they?” Bobby asks as Sam makes his way down the stairs.  
“Asleep,” Sam says. Gracilynn had curled up on the bed with her dad and fell asleep about an hour ago. Dean must’ve fallen asleep shortly after that.  
“She say anything to you?” Bobby asks, taking two beers out of the fridge and handing one to Sam.   
“About?” Sam says, taking the beer from Bobby and opening it, taking a swig.  
“How she got away. How she got here,” Bobby clarifies.  
“Just that Cas helped her and that she took the bus,” Sam says.  
“Why didn’t Cas just zap her here?” Bobby asks. Sam shakes her head.  
“Don’t know. Didn’t really ask. Was kind of trying to wrap my mind around the fact she was sitting next to me in the car ya know?” Sam says. Bobby nods his head.  
“Well, we have all day tomorrow to figure it out,” Bobby says, “Sure glad she’s back though.”  
“Me too,” Sam says and the two of them clink bottles before taking another sip.

 

Dean wakes up and, feeling the absence of warmth next to him, looks down to see Gracilynn gone. He sits up and rubs at his eyes and runs a hand through his hair. He looks around the room but doesn’t see any sign of her. Looking at the clock he sees it’s almost eleven. Dean climbs out of bed and meanders down the stairs and into the kitchen where Sam, Gracilynn, and Bobby are all sitting at the table. The two elder hunter drinking coffee and Gracilynn what looks to be apple juice. They look up at him hearing him shuffle into the room.  
“Hey there Sleepy,” Gracilynn says with a grin, “‘Bout time you woke up.”  
“Thought I was Dopey?” Dean says, pouring himself a cup of coffee and sitting at the table with them. Bobby raises his eyebrows in confusion.  
“Trust me Bobby,” Sam says, “You don’t want to know.”  
“I’ll take your word on that,” Bobby says. Dean snorts. Gracilynn gives him a look which Dean returns with a look of his own that says, “What?”  
“So,” Bobby says, before anything is said either of the boys will regret, “Gracilynn, Sam says Cas helped you?”  
“Uh…yeah,” Gracilynn answers. Dean looks up at his daughter.   
“What exactly did he do?” Dean asks.  
“He uh…made it so they wouldn’t remember…” Gracilynn says hesitantly. All three men’s eyebrows narrow.  
“Remember what?” Dean asks, trying to read her. Gracilynn bites her lip. Yup, not gonna tell the whole truth then Dean thinks to himself see the tell.  
“Remember what Zach told them. That they thought I was in danger. The whole incident at the motel,” Gracilynn says, not looking at anyone. Dean stares at her.  
“What about the cops and the CPS creeps?” Sam asks.  
“He took care of them too,” Gracilynn says, “Got rid of the file as well.”  
“That it?” Dean asks, knowing she’s going to lie again the moment she bites her lip.  
“Yup, that’s it,” Gracilynn says, shooting them all a smile, “We’re fine. They won’t be coming after us again.”  
Dean shares a look between Sam and Bobby, knowing they both have the same feeling as himself; that Gracilynn wasn’t telling them the whole truth. Dean looks back at his daughter and underneath the smile and happy façade, he could see the determination in her eyes. She wasn’t going to say anything else as of right now so no sense in pushing her; she’ll just close up further. He’ll have to try to talk to her later.  
“Well, now that we have that cleared up, I think I found you guys a hunt,” Bobby says.  
“Where?” Gracilynn says, thankful for the change of topic.  
“Pennsylvania,” Bobby says.  
“Pennsylvania?” Sam asks.  
“Yeah, Amish country,” Bobby replies.  
“Dude, seriously Bobby?” Dean whines, “They don’t even use televisions. Or phone for that matter.”  
“There’s something going around killing women Dean,” Bobby growls, “You really gonna worry about where the hell it’s taking up residence?”  
“No,” Dean mutters ashamedly.   
“That’s what I thought,” Bobby says, then handing Sam a file, “Here’s everything I came up with. Good luck.”


	20. Chapter 20

“So what did Bobby find out about this hunt?” Dean asks from the drivers’ seat. Sam glances over the research one last time before answering.  
“Supposedly, in the last year, five people have died. All of them with their throats slashed,” Sam explains.  
“What do the cops think happened?” Gracilynn asks.  
“Not too much. Looks like the Amish don’t care for outsiders to be snooping around. Most they can tell is it’s probably a serial killer,” Sam answers.  
“Yeah, because they’re always right,” Dean says sarcastically. Sam shrugs but agrees with him nonetheless.   
“So, we talk to the victims first?” Gracilynn asks, hoping she’ll be able to help.  
“Yeah,” Dean says, “Maybe you can try to get some of the kids to talk to you.”  
Dean looks pointedly at his daughter in the rearview mirror. Gracilynn nods trying to hide a smirk growing on her face.

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“Something tells me we’re not too welcome,” Gracilynn says as they climb out of the car. The family in front of them just stare at them as they walk up to the house.   
“Detectives Ford and Hamill,” Dean says, he and Sam showing their badges respectively, “We would like to ask you a few questions. The family stares at them for a minute longer.  
“Come inside,” the father says, leading Dean and Sam inside along with his wife, “You stay outside.”  
The children nod and look over at Gracilynn. Gracilynn looks at them and smiles, hoping her friendliness will attract them. Instead, they just stare at her. Gracilynn sighs and slowly makes her way towards them. Fortunately, they don’t move away, they just watch her. Can we say children of the corn Gracilynn thinks.  
“Hi,” Gracilynn says.  
“Hi,” a little girls says in return, returning the smile Gracilynn had given them.  
“My name’s Gracilynn what’s yours?” Gracilynn says.  
“Margarette,” a brown haired, blue eyed little girl says. Gracilynn smiles and nods, then, looks up at the oldest child, a brown haired blue eyed boy.  
“Benjamin,” he says, then points to each child respectively, starting with the oldest and then moving down to the youngest, “Mary, Anna, John, Mark, and, of course, Margarette.”  
“Why are you guys here?” Mary, the blonde haired, blue-eyed girl asks.  
“Those men that went inside with your parents?” Gracilynn asks. The kids nod that they know who she’s talking about. “Well, one’s my dad and the really tall one is my uncle. They’re FBI agents, so they’re like cops. They’re trying to find out who’s been killing these women.”  
“Like our Aunt Isabelle?” Anna says, the brown haired brown eyed girl.  
“Yeah,” Gracilynn says in confirmation, “Has anything weird happened with your aunt before she died?”  
“Not really,” the blonde haired, brown eyed John says.   
“She did have to leave though,” Mark, the brown haired, brown eyed boy, says.   
“What do you mean she had to leave?” Gracilynn asks. Mark quiets instantly, not sure if he should have said anything. Gracilynn looks up at the older siblings. “What does he mean?”  
“She…” Benjamin starts, looking at the door before continuing, “She was shunned.”  
“Shunned?” Gracilynn asks, confused at the phrase.  
“It means she’s not allowed to come back to the village. No one does business with her and no one interacts with her,” Mary explains.  
“Why? That makes no sense,” Gracilynn asks.  
“It’s part of our religion,” Benjamin explains, “It’s only ever done as a last resort.”  
“What did your aunt do that would…” Gracilynn begins.  
“Have her shunned?” Mary asks. Gracilynn nods. “She divorced our uncle.”  
Gracilynn’s eyebrows scrunch together. She was not understanding this at all.  
“In our religion we are not allowed to get a divorce,” Benjamin explains, “They told her if she continued with the divorce and finalized it, they would shun her.”  
“Oh, well, okay,” Gracilynn says, still not getting it fully. To her she didn’t understand how someone could just drop someone else out of their family because of something so stupid, but hey, to each and their own. Oh, yeah. Kind of like how you just dropped grandma and grandpa out of your life. You have no room to judge here Gracie. Gracilynn hears her father’s voice inside her head. Awesome, now I’m hearing him in my head. “If it’s against your religion and knowing she’d be shunned, why would she continue with the divorce.”  
“We don’t know for sure,” Mary begins, “But I heard her tell mother that she couldn’t live with that man anymore.”  
“That man? As in your uncle?” Gracilynn asks for clarification.  
“I assumed so,” Mary answers, “I didn’t think anything of it but she would always have bruises on her when she came over.”  
“Bruises? Like how?” Gracilynn asks.  
“On her arms, her wrists,” Mary says, “And I swear they looked like fingers. She’d even come with a black eye once or twice. Told us she ran into the buggy one time and other things.”  
“I see,” Gracilynn says, putting the pieces together. The door opens behind them and Gracilynn looks to see her dad and uncle exiting the house. “Thanks guys.”  
The kids nod their head and Gracilynn follows after her dad and uncle over to the car and the three of them climb inside. Dean starts up the car and drives off towards the next victims’ house.

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“What’d you guys find out?” Gracilynn asks.  
“Not much,” Sam says, “They weren’t too keen on sharing their personal lives with us.”  
“But we did find out that Rachel’s sister Isabella was leaving the village,” Dean says.  
“Well, I found out why,” Gracilynn says with a proud smirk. Dean and Sam look back at her. “Turns out kids really do say the darndest things.”  
“Well, what’d they say?” Dean asks.  
“Turns out Isabella was shunned, which basically means no one in the village has any social or business contact with her,” Gracilynn says.  
“Why would they do that?” Dean asks, confused.  
“Because Isabella divorced her husband because he was beating her,” Gracilynn explains.  
“That makes no sense,” Dean says, confused, “They punished her because she wanted to be safe?”  
“Divorces go against their religion and they don’t tolerate that at all,” Gracilynn says.  
“That’s stupid,” Dean says, “The chick wanted to actually be safe in her own home and she kick her out. Not even her family can talk to her?”  
“No, I guess not,” Gracilynn says.  
“Who would just cut their family out of their lives like that?” Dean says frustrated. Gracilynn bites her bottom lip.  
“I don’t know,” she says, “Maybe they thought they were doing what’s right.”  
“There’s nothing right with just cutting your family member out of your life just because they want to be safe,” Dean says angrily, looking back at the road and turning up the radio, effectively ending their conversation. Gracilynn leans back in her seat and stares out the window, biting at her bottom lip. Guess that makes my decision. I definitely can’t tell dad about what I had Cas do. Sam looks back at her and sees her deep in thought. He can’t help but shake the feeling that whatever she’s thinking about has something to do with he being taken from them and whatever’s going on now. Sam looks over at his brother whose glaring at the road in front of him. He lets out a small sigh and looks out his own window, hoping they’ll be able to get to the bottom of this case and Gracilynn’s little secret.

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“So, three of the five victims were shunned from the community?” Sam asks as the three of them enter their motel room.  
“Yeah, I guess so,” Dean says shortly.   
“But if being shunned is the pattern,” Gracilynn says, seeing her father not in the mood to talk and picking up the slack, “Then how do the other two victims come into play?”  
“I don’t know,” Sam says, “We’ll have to do more digging I guess.”  
“Yeah, that’ll be easy,” Dean says, sarcastically, “Because they gave us so much information this time.”  
“Dean, we can’t just give up,” Sam says.  
“I don’t give up Sam,” Dean says, looking at his brother.  
“What’s that supposed to mean Dean,” Sam asks, feeling on the defensive.   
“Whatever the hell you want it to mean,” Dean says curtly, taking off his jacket and throwing it on the bed next to him.   
“I thought we were past this Dean?” Sam asks, confused as to where this is coming from.   
“Whatever,” Dean says dismissively. He throws his tie on the bed before he grabs a change of clothes and enters the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Sam sighs and looks as if someone kicked his puppy. He takes off his own jacket and tie and throws it onto his own bed and takes out his computer to do some research. Gracilynn looks from her uncle to the closed bathroom door. She thought everything was getting better between them, ever since that stupid Paris Hilton job. God, she was so happy when that Bitch bit the dust. Gracilynn sighs herself and goes to sit across from her uncle, biting her lip, wondering whether she should say anything or not.  
“What’s going on Smalls?” Sam asks, looking up from his laptop. He had seen her biting her lip, and like Dean, had come to the realization that she does this when she is about to lie or is debating whether or not she should say something or what she should say. Gracilynn bites her lip again then takes a deep breath.   
“Is dad right?” she asks. Sam looks at her confused.  
“About what?” he asks.  
“About there not being any reason for someone to cut their family out of their lives,” Gracilynn explains. Sam cocks his head, narrowing his eyebrows.  
“Where’s this coming from Gracilynn?” Sam asks.  
“I don’t know,” Gracilynn says, “Never mind. It’s nothing important.”  
Gracilynn gets up to go over to her dad’s bed, but Sam reaches out and grabs her wrist.  
“Hey,” he says and Gracilynn turns to look at him. “You sure?”  
Gracilynn looks at him for a moment, biting her lip.   
“You know, dad doesn’t mean it,” Gracilynn says. Sam looks at her confused again at the sudden change of topic.  
“What?” he asks.  
“He’s just pissed about the job,” Gracilynn explains, “He’s not pissed at you. He’s only lashing out at you because you’ll forgive him.”  
Sam watches his niece for a moment before she pulls away from his gentle grip and sprawls out on the bed resting her head on her crossed arms in front of her. Sam looks at her then at the closed bathroom door. I hope so Shorty. I hope so.


	21. Chapter 21

Dean’s sitting on his bed, cleaning his guns while Sam sits at the table looking through old newspaper articles on his computer to find anything on what could be causing these deaths. They were thinking it was maybe a pissed off ghost. Gracilynn is sitting on the other side of her dad’s bed, leaning up against the headboard, legs stretched out in front of her. She’s looking at death records for the last two years to help out her uncle.  
“Find anything yet?” Sam asks her from his seat at the table.   
“Huh?” Gracilynn says, not looking up from her papers. Sam looks over at her.  
“You find anything?” he asks again. Gracilynn looks up at him.  
“Uh, no, not yet,” Gracilynn replies. Dean glances up at her and smirks.  
“Can’t really find anything after only looking for twenty minutes, can you?” he asks her. Sam furrows his eyebrows in confusion. Gracilynn looks over at her dad surprised at the question.  
“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I been looking for an hour,” Gracilynn says.  
“You have?” Dean asks, looking at her pointedly.  
“Y…yeah,” she replies. Dean reaches over and grabs a “stack” of paper at the top of the pile. Sam watches and notices the stack of papers aren’t actually a stack of papers, but instead a magazine. Dean holds it up to her.  
“Right, because unless Muscle Car Magazine has recently started listing obituaries, I’m pretty sure you haven’t been looking for the past forty minutes,” Dean says, calling her out, giving her a cocky smirk.  
“How did you know?” Gracilynn asks, sulking.   
“Because I know everything,” Dean says, tossing the magazine on the bed and picking up his gun again.  
Gracilynn huffs but starts to look through the papers anyways. Sam smirks to himself and glances at his brother and then his niece, shaking his head. They were so much alike it was crazy. God help us all Sam thinks to himself. 

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“I think I’ve found something,” Gracilynn says, sitting up in the bed. Sam looks up from his spot in front of his computer. Dean had gone to get food about ten minutes ago. “Miriam Garagher.”  
“Why her?” Sam asks typing the name into his computer.  
“She was the only one who died in a reasonable amount of time with the deaths besides a two year old,” Gracilynn says. Sam looks at his computer and clicks on a few buttons and begins reading what he has found.   
“Okay, looks like she died when she was…”  
“Seventy four,” Gracilynn finishes. Sam nods his head.  
“Her and her husband were two of the leaders of the Amish community around here. Her husband died a few years before her,” Sam says, scanning the article, “They and the other elders had say over who got shunned and so forth. But it seems like Miriam had a stiffer hand than the other elders. Had voted five people to be shunned but none of them were.”  
“So, let’s say she died, and now dear old Miriam doesn’t like how the community is being run. She decides to take things into her own hands,” Gracilynn says, leaning forward on the bed, the pile of papers forgotten beside her. “And now she’s killing everyone that she believes should be shunned.”  
“Yeah but, besides Isabella, all the other victims “sins” were minute. I mean one guy would have a beer every Friday night and one of the women would put on pants to help her son out around the barn because her husband died the year before,” Sam says in disbelief.  
“Wow,” Gracilynn says, “Well, you did say she had a stiffer hand than the others.”  
“Yeah,” Sam says, then looks over at his niece. Gracilynn gives him a look.  
“What?” she asks.  
“You seem kind of bothered by this whole case,” Sam states. Gracilynn shrugs.  
“It’s fine,” she says.  
“Yeah? You sure?”  
“I’m fine. It’s…nothing,” Gracilynn says, “Besides, I think dad’s the only one who’s having trouble with this whole cut your family out of your life thing.”  
“Is that was this is all about?” Sam asks, picking up on the fact that the family thing was the only part of the case she mentioned. Gracilynn quickly looks up at him.  
“What? No,” Gracilynn says a little too quickly. Now it’s Sam’s turn to give her a look.  
“Is that what you think? That you cut your grandparents out of your life by getting Cas to help you come back?” Sam asks. Gracilynn bites her lip, but looks away, not being able to look him in the eye. She shrugs her shoulder. Sam looks to the door and then gets up and sits next to his niece on the bed and looks at her. “You didn’t cut them out of your life Smalls. You just made it so they…so they wouldn’t take you away. You can call and talk to them anytime you want.”  
Sam looks at her, his eyes widening a little at the lone tear trailing down her face. He is slightly confused by this reaction and slightly confused as to why she would feel this way. He wraps his arm around her and pulls her into him. Gracilynn rests her head on his shoulder.  
“I just don’t want dad or you to hate me,” Gracilynn whispers so quietly Sam almost didn’t hear it. His furrows his eyebrows, completely confused by this statement.  
“Why would we hate you?” Sam asks, looking down at her. He nudges her. “Hey, we could never hate you, you hear me?”  
Gracilynn looks up at him and Sam looks her dead in the eye. He kneels down in front of her and looks at her, putting his hands on her shoulders.  
“No matter what you did, do, or will do. Nothing you do could ever make us even so much as dislike you, let alone hate you,” Sam says, trying to get her to understand. Gracilynn nods her head slightly. Both of them jump at the motel door banging open.   
“Dude, the place had apple pie so I got us…” Dean says, fading off when he sees the scene before him, “What happened? She alright?”  
“I’m fine,” Gracilynn says, annoyed at the fact her dad caught her in this state, “I’m gonna go take a shower before I eat.”  
Gracilynn gets up from the bed and quickly escapes to the bathroom after grabbing a change of clothes. Dean watches her disappear into the bathroom, looking at Sam with a questioning look after the door shuts behind Gracilynn.  
“I think we need to talk,” Sam says, standing up. Dean groans inwardly, but sets the food down on the table and takes a seat, knowing Sam found something out about his daughter.

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Dean looks at his daughter in the rearview mirror. He knew something was going on with her and he had an idea that it had to do with her grandparents and everything that happened. Listening to what Sam told him about their conversation and her unexplained question from before, he knows now more than ever that there is way more to his daughter’s secret than just what she told Sam. Or didn’t tell Sam, because she really didn’t say much, it was more Sam sending out feelers and making deductions based off her reactions. Dean looks back at the road. As soon as they were done salting and burning this Bitch he was definitely going to have a long talk with Gracilynn.   
The cemetery comes into view on their left and Dean pulls off the road and puts it into park. The three of them get out and look across the street. The cemetery was small; it was the Amish cemetery so no one but them were buried here. Hopefully, no one spotted them. Small cemeteries were nice because it meant less searching but you had nowhere to hide. Dean looks down the road both ways and then leads his brother and daughter across the street, Sam carrying the duffle. Dean nods to his right and Sam heads that way and then Dean and Gracilynn head to their left, searching for the grave of Miriam Garagher.   
“Dean!” Sam yells, “Over here!”  
Dean’s head turns to look where his brother is and he and Gracilynn make their way towards him. They stand next to him and look down at the grave in front of them. Sure enough, engraved on it is Miriam Garagher. Sam drops the bag on to the ground and unzips it, pulling out shovels, handing one to his brother. Dean hands off his flashlight to Gracilynn as well as Sam.   
“Really? What am I going to do with three flashlights?” she says, raising her eyebrows.   
“Just keep watch all right?” Dean says, jamming the shovel in to the ground.  
“Anyone else think this hunt is going way too easily?” Gracilynn asks aloud, sticking a flashlight in the duffle.  
“Which is why you’re keeping watch,” Dean says, looking up pointedly at her. Gracilynn takes note and keeping one flashlight on the ground in front of Dean and Sam, uses another flashlight to check around the cemetery. 

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN  
They had been digging for a while now; Gracilynn wasn’t exactly sure how long, but her dad and uncle had hit the coffin and were now trying to pry it open. Gracilynn felt the air grow colder and she looks up and shines the flashlight around the cemetery. There to her right was Miriam Garagher in all her Amish clothes and hair pulled back into a low bun.   
“Dad?” Gracilynn calls. Dean looks up at hearing the hesitancy in his daughters’ voice. He looks over to where she’s shining the flashlight and sees the ghost staring at her.   
“Sam,” Dean says, jumping out of the hole.  
“Got it,” Sam says, finally prying the coffin open to reveal the remains. Dean picks up his gun and shoots the ghost. Miriam disappears and Gracilynn looks around trying to find her again. She feels a breeze behind her and turns to look. Before she can see anything, Gracilynn is thrown backwards into a nearby tree. She hears a gunshot and looks up to see her dad being thrown into another tree. Sam sees the same thing and then notices Miriam is headed straight for him. He drops the can he is holding and picks up his gun, but when he stands up, she’s already in front of him and tosses him into a headstone, effectively knocking him out. Gracilynn gets up as the ghost of Miriam appears in front of her father and grabs him by the neck, raising him up the tree.   
“Dad,” Gracilynn says fearfully. The ghost looks over at her and smiles, noticing the gun in her hand.   
“You are worried about family being cut from your life?” she says mockingly as her dad tries to break free, but his hands can’t make contact. “You weren’t all that worried when it was your grandparents.”  
The breath hitches in Gracilynn’s throat and her gun begins to shake slightly. Her dad looks over at her and gives her a look she can’t quite read. Miriam takes the time to yank the gun from Gracilynn’s hand and tosses it into the grass; then Gracilynn feels herself being pushed backwards, her back hitting the far edge of the grave and she finds herself falling into the hole. She lands in the coffin on her stomach and looks down making a disgusted face.  
“I really need to get out of this habit of landing in gross things,” she mutters to herself. She shoves herself up and climbs out of the grave. She looks over at her dad and sees Miriam still has him in a choke. She quickly grabs the gas can and pours the contents onto the remains below, looking over at her uncle coming to and slowly raising himself up. She drops the empty can next to her and grabs the can of salt and pours it on, looking behind her to make sure she hasn’t been spotted. Satisfied, Gracilynn sets the salt can down next to her and grabs the box of matches. She looks over at Miriam and strikes a match, the action echoing in the dark, quiet cemetery. Miriam turns her head to look at her, dropping Dean when she sees what Gracilynn is holding.  
“No!” she screams as Gracilynn sends her a smirk of her own and drops the match into the hole. Miriam charges at her just as her remains go up in flames. She dissipates by the time she gets to Gracilynn so all Gracilynn feels is a rush of wind blow into her. She looks over at her father pushing himself up on to his feet, rubbing his neck. She hears a noise slightly behind her and she looks over to see her uncle walking up to her on slightly wobbly legs; he’s bleeding from his head.   
“You two all right?” Dean asks, his voice scratchy still from being choked, as he walks over to them.  
“Yeah,” Sam and Gracilynn says. Dean looks at them both, not believing a word of it.  
“Let’s get back to the motel room so I can patch you two up,” Dean says, eyeing Sam’s blood-trailed face before he packs the duffle back up and hikes it over his shoulder.   
“What about the grave?” Gracilynn asks. Dean curses under his breath looking back at the open grave.  
“You two head back to the Impala, I’ll be there shortly,” Dean grumbles.  
“Okay,” Gracilynn says, “I can help though.”  
“No, I need you to clean up Sam,” Dean says, effectively dismissing them as he begins to fill in the hole again.  
Gracilynn nods her head and helps her uncle back to the car. Once there, Gracilynn opens the front passenger door and Sam sits down onto the seat slowly, his legs outside, feet on the ground. Gracilynn grabs the first aid kit from the trunk and returns, opening it up and grabbing a bunch of moist towels. She begins cleaning off the area around Sam’s cut and Sam watches her, hissing when she gets too close.  
“What did she mean?” Sam asks suddenly. Gracilynn opens another towel and begins cleaning again.   
“What did who mean about what?” Gracilynn asks.  
“Miriam,” Sam says, “About you not worrying about cut family out of your life when it came to your grandparents.”  
“I don’t know,” Gracilynn says, throwing the dirtied towels into a bag.   
“Really? Because it seems like there’s more to this Gracilynn. Why would she say something like that? All you did was make sure they didn’t remember Zach or the CPS people and stuff,” Sam continues.  
“What’s done is done Uncle Sam,” Gracilynn says, “I did what I had to do.”  
Sam looks at her, trying to read her face. He knows there’s more to this but she isn’t budging. Gracilynn stares back at him, finally sighing.  
“Your cuts not too deep, I don’t think it needs stitches. I’m just gonna use butterfly stitches to hold it together,” Gracilynn says, changing the subject and grabbing some butterfly stitches to do just that. Sam sighs himself; he knows she’s hiding something. She does the same thing that dean does; she changes the subject and she gets angry. The question is, ‘How much is she hiding?’


	22. Chapter 22

It had been a few days since the Amish fiasco, but her dad and uncle had finally stopped trying to pry information out of her. Gracilynn wasn’t fooling herself, they still didn’t believe her there was nothing left to tell, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. They were in Wellington, Ohio on another case. A local man had his head ripped off and they were looking into it. She was lying on her uncle’s bed, feet crossed, arms behind her head, eyes closed. Her dad was watching TV, bad daytime TV to be exact. Her Uncle Sam opens the bathroom door and walks out, looking at the TV, then at Dean.  
“What are you watching?” he asks.  
“Hospital show. Dr. Sexy, MD. I think it’s based on a book,” Dean answers, sitting on the edge of the bed, remote in hand, not taking his eyes of the screen.  
“When did you hit menopause?” Sam asks.  
“It’s called channel surfing,” Dean says, standing up and turning the TV off. Sam grabs his suit jacket and puts it on. Gracilynn smirks.  
“Don’t let him fool ya Uncle Sam. He’d been watching it the whole time you were in the bathroom,” Gracilynn says, not opening her eyes. Dean sends her a glare.  
“You were supposed to be sleeping,” he says. Gracilynn’s smirk grows.  
“It’s more fun pretending. You find out a lot more that way,” Gracilynn says. Dean grumbles to himself and looks over at his smirking brother.  
“Shut up Sam,” Dean says.  
“You ready?” Sam asks.  
“Are you?” Dean asks in return, grabbing his keys and walking out of the room.

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Dean’s at his laptop looking at an article, Gracilynn is across from him looking at her uncle’s laptop. They both look up as Sam walks into the room.  
“Hey,” he says.  
“Find anything?” Dean asks.  
“Well, uh, I saw the house,” Sam says.  
“And?” Dean asks impatiently.  
“And there is a giant eight-foot-wide hole where the front door used to be. Almost like, uh…” Sam explains, not sure how to explain the last part.  
“A Hulk-sized hole?” Dean finished for him.  
“Maybe. What do you got?” Sam asks.  
“Well, it turns out that Bill Randolph had quite the temper. He's got two counts of spousal battery, bar brawls, and court-ordered anger management sessions. You might say you wouldn't like him when he's angry,” Dean says, smirking at his own joke. Gracilynn and Sam roll their eyes.  
“So a hothead getting killed by TV's greatest hothead. Kinda sounds like just desserts, doesn't it?” Sam asks. Dean snorts. “It's all starting to make sense.”  
“How is it starting to make sense?” Dean asks, confused. Gracilynn looks up from the laptop.  
“Well, I found something else at the crime scene,” Sam says, pulling out a handful of candy wrappers from his pocket.  
“Candy wrappers? How is that relevant?” Gracilynn asks, confused.  
“Lots of them,” Sam says, dropping them on the table.  
“Just desserts, sweet tooth, screwing with people before you kill 'em—we're dealing with the Trickster, aren't we?” Dean says.  
“Trickster? What’s that?” Gracilynn asks, looking from Dean to Sam.  
“Sure looks like it,” Sam says, then turning to Gracilynn, “He’s a demi-god. Kills dicks for fun. Makes it into a game kind of. But he kills them in whacked out ways.”  
“Like getting their head ripped off by the Hulk?” Gracilynn asks.  
“Yeah,” Sam says.  
“Good. I've wanted to gank that mother since Mystery Spot,” Dean says.   
“Mystery Spot?” Gracilynn asks, confused yet again.  
“The son of a bitch thought it would be fun to kill me over and over and over again,” Dean says.  
“You sure?” Sam asks Dean, changing the subject, the wounds being still too raw from that particular case.  
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Dean answers.  
“No, I mean are you sure you wanna kill him?” Sam asks, clarifying.  
“Son of a bitch didn't think twice about icing me a thousand times,” Dean says hotly.  
“No, I know, I mean, I'm just saying…” Sam begins.  
“What are you saying? If you don't want to kill him, then what?” Dean asks.  
“Talk to him?” Sam asks.  
“What?”  
“Think about it, Dean. He's one of the most powerful creatures we've ever met. Maybe we can use him,” Sam explains.  
“For what?” Dean and Gracilynn ask.  
“Okay, Trickster's like a Hugh Hefner type, right? Wine, women, song…maybe he doesn't want the party to end. Maybe he hates this angels and demons stuff as much as we do. Maybe he'll help us,” Sam says.  
“You’re serious,” Dean says.  
“Yeah.”  
“Ally with the Trickster.”  
“Yeah,” Sam says.  
“A bloody, violent monster, and you wanna be Facebook friends with him? Nice, Sammy,” Dean replies.  
“The world is gonna end, Dean. We don't have the luxury of a moral stand. Look, I'm just saying it's worth a shot. That's all. If it doesn't work, we'll kill him,” Sam says. Dean sighs.  
“How are we gonna find the guy, anyway?” Dean asks.  
“Well, he never takes just one victim, right? He'll show,” Sam responds.

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Dean is sharpening a wooden stake while Sam is sitting staring at the police scanner in front of him. Gracilynn is sprawled out on one of the beds reading a Muscle Car magazine.   
“Um, Dispatch? I, I got a possible 187 out here at the old paper mill on Route 6?”   
“Hey,” Sam says. Dean stops his work on the stake and stares at the scanner. Gracilynn looks up and watches the scanner herself.  
“Roger that. What are you looking at there, son?” dispatch answers.  
“Honestly, Walt, I, I wouldn't even know how to describe what I'm seeing. Just…send everybody.”  
“All right, stay calm, stay by your car. Help's on the way,” says dispatch.  
“That sounds weird,” Dean says as Sam turns off the scanner.  
“Weird enough to be our guy,” Sam says in turn. They both stand up and grab their stuff. Gracilynn looks up at them.  
“You guys leaving,” she asks.  
“Yeah, we’ll be back,” Dean says. Gracilynn nods. Dean looks down and sees she’s looking at the same magazine she’d been looking at for weeks now. He sighs and goes to his duffle pulling out a journal and throwing it on the bed next to her. Gracilynn looks over at it quizzically then up at her father.   
“What’s this?” she asks, pulling it towards her.  
“My journal,” Dean says.  
“You keep a journal?” Gracilynn asks mockingly, “Isn’t that a little girly for your taste?”  
Dean glares at her as she smirks back.  
“Of all the things we’ve hunted smartass,” Dean says, “You always want to know more, well there ya go.”  
“Thanks,” Gracilynn says as Dean and Sam walk out the door. Gracilynn opens up her dads’ journal and begins reading.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Gracilynn looks at the clock. Her dad and Uncle had been gone for three hours and she hasn’t heard a word from them. She bites her lip and looks to her phone. She sighs and picks it up pressing her dad’s speed dial. The phone rings until it goes to voicemail. Gracilynn hangs up the phone and tries calling her uncle with the same result. They always answer their phone, especially her dad, especially when she’s calling. Unless they’re in trouble.   
“Son of a Bitch,” Gracilynn mutters. She closes her dad’s journal and climbs off the bed, grabbing her coat and looking through the phonebook on the nightstand. She finds what she’s looking for and dials the number. “Hi, yeah, I need a cab at Four Springs Motel.”

 

The cab pulls up to the old paper mill and Gracilynn hands the driver some cash and climbs out of the car.  
“You sure you don’t want me to stay and wait?” the driver asks, not feeling comfortable dropping a fifteen year old girl off here and leaving her.  
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Gracilynn says, “My dad and uncle are inside. See that’s my dad’s car.”  
The driver looks to where Gracilynn is pointing and notices the black ’67 Impala parked near the door. He sighs and convinces himself that she’ll be fine if her dad is here. He puts the car into drive and pulls away. Gracilynn watches the cab pull off and as soon as he disappears makes her way to the door.  
“Dad is so gonna kill me,” Gracilynn mutters to herself before opening the door and entering the building.


	23. Chapter 23

Gracilynn walks through the door and finds herself in a living room. She raises her eyebrows and looks around, turning a 360, which is when she realizes she is carrying more weight on her than she should. She looks down and sees a big belly on her. The kind that you don’t want to see when you’re fifteen; the kind that only ever ends up with a very pissed of Dean Winchester ready to kill the guy that did this.   
“What the hell?” she says as she hears two sets of footprints walk up behind her, halting to a stop. She turns around and her eyes grow big, matching her dad and uncles’.   
“Gracie? What the hell are you doing here?” Dean asks, receiving a sheepish look from her. Then he notices the very pregnant belly on her and he instantly gets angry. “And what the hell is that?”  
“Good questions,” Gracilynn says, “First off, I came here because I hadn’t heard from you in hours and neither one of you were answering your phone. And this…I have no clue.”  
All three heads turn as a woman walks in and sees them. Her face instantly lights up.  
“Jack, you’re home!” she says, gripping him in a tight hug. She turns and looks at Sam. “Dylan, sweetheart, thanks for bringing your father home.”  
Gracilynn’s eyebrows rise to her hairline as she looks at her dad and uncle for an explanation. Sam shrugs his shoulders and Dean is still staring at her stomach. The woman looks over to where he is staring and steps backwards for a moment.  
“Jack, dear, our daughter needs to tell you something,” the woman says, nodding at Gracilynn to continue.  
“What?” Gracilynn asks, completely confused.  
“Sweetheart, you said you didn’t want to tell your dad on the phone while he was overseas, but he obviously knows now,” she says.  
“Um…what?” Gracilynn asks again, “Dad?”  
“We’re stuck in TV land, living through different TV shows,” Sam mutters in to her ear, “The best I can tell you is to just play along.”  
“Laina,” the woman says, prodding her on. Gracilynn looks from the woman to her dad to her uncle, then back to her dad. She’s not even really pregnant and she still can’t get the words out. The front door opens and a young man of about sixteen walks in and stops short, taking in the scene before him.  
“Laina?” he asks, “Is this your dad?”  
“Uh…yeah,” Gracilynn says, eyeing the kid. He comes over and stands next to her and puts his arm around her.   
“Jack, this is Ben. The father,” the woman says. Dean stares at them, still not sure what to do in this situation himself.   
“The father?” Dean asks.  
“Yeah, I guess so,” Gracilynn says, giving Ben a weird look.  
“I guess now is as good time as any,” Ben says, giving Gracilynn a squeeze.  
“For what?” Sam asks.  
“To tell you all the news,” Ben says, then looks at Gracilynn, “Go on Babe.”  
“Um…what news?” Gracilynn asks.  
“All right, I guess I’m telling it,” Ben says, looking at everyone around them, “Laina and I are getting married.”  
“What?!” Everyone yells.  
“Like hell you are!” Dean yells. Gracilynn pulls away from Ben and looks at him, making sure she’s between him and her dad, because even though they’re in TV land, she still doesn’t want her dad going to jail for killing someone.   
“Sir, I love your daughter and I want to be with her,” Ben says.  
“Looks like you’ve already done that!” Dean yells.  
“Sir, if we could just sit down and talk about this…”  
“Oh, we’ll talk,” Dean says, “But my fist will be doing most of the talking.”  
Ben’s eyes grow wide and he takes off towards the door with Dean hot on his heels. Sam laughs nervously and quickly runs after them.  
“Dad!?” Gracilynn yells, trying to run after them herself, but finds it very hard to do so being six months pregnant.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

They run through the door and find themselves in a very brightly colored motel room. Dean, Sam, and Gracilynn stop short and look around. Dean looks over at her and his eyes instantly goes to her stomach. Finding it normal, he lets out a relieved sigh. He looks back up at her and freezes her with a look.  
“If I ever see you like that for real…” he begins.  
“I know,” Gracilynn says, holding her hands up in submission, “You have nothing to worry about dad.”  
“Good,” Dean says looking around.  
“Now what do we do?” Sam asks.   
“I don’t know,” Gracilynn says, looking at her father.  
“We find out what’s going on here,” Dean says.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Dean puts some things back into the refrigerator, closes the door and turns around. There is an applause in the background. He looks at the sandwich sitting on the table that’s about a foot tall.   
“I’m gonna need a bigger mouth,” Dean says.  
There is more laughter and Sam and Gracilynn enters the room followed by applause.   
“Hey there, Sam. What's happening?” Dean asks.  
“Oh, nothing. Um. Just the end of the world,” Sam answers. There is more laughter and Sam notices the sandwich. “You're gonna need a bigger mouth.”  
The laughter begins again.  
“Hey, uh, have you done your research yet?” Sam asks. A ‘busted’ expression appears on Dean’s face and the laughter starts up again.  
“Oh, yeah. All kinds of research. All night,” Dean answers.  
“Yeah? Hm,” Sam says looking around. Gracilynn raises an eyebrow as the bathroom door opens and a woman in a bikini comes out. There are wolf whistles in the background.  
“Yeah, looks it dad,” Gracilynn says humorously.   
“Oh, Dean...” the woman calls. Sam looks over at her and Dean turns around, caught.   
“We have some more research to do,” Dean says with a smirk. Gracilynn rolls her eyes as Sam folds his arms.   
“Dean…” Sam says, followed by laughter.  
“Son of a Bitch!” Dean says, followed by heavier laughter and applause. Sam walks over to the bikini clad woman as he glares over his shoulder at Dean.  
“Uh, I am really, really, very sorry, but, uh, we've got some work to do,” Sam says to her as he escorts her to the door.  
“But we did do work! In depth,” the woman says, reminiscing. There is laughter and Dean waves at her as she leaves. Sam shuts the door and shakes his head.   
“How long do we have to do this?” Dean says, speaking through a forced smile.  
“Yeah, because that kinda scarred me for life,” Gracilynn says, forcing her own smile as she shudders at the woman reminiscing God knows what. There is laughter and Gracilynn glares at the ceiling.   
“I don’t know,” Sam says. Applause fills the air. “Maybe forever.”  
Laughter insinuates again.  
“We might die in here,” he adds followed by more laughter.  
“How was that funny?” Dean says, then muttering, “Vultures.”  
There is more laughter and then the door opens and in walks Cas with some minor injuries. His appearance is followed by applause.  
“You okay?” Dean asks him.  
“I don’t have much time,” Cas says hurriedly.  
“What happened?” Sam asks.  
“I got out,” Cas replies.  
“From where?” Dean asks.  
“Listen to me. Something is not right. This thing is much more powerful than it should be,” Cas says.  
“What thing? The trickster?” Gracilynn steps in and asks.  
“If it is a trickster,” Cas replies.  
“What do you mean?” Sam asks. Cas is suddenly flung backwards into the wall, his face hidden. The trickster suddenly appears at the open door.  
“Hello!” he yells. There is a large amount of applause and cheers. Cas gets up and his mouth is duct taped shut. “Thank you, thank you ladies.”  
“Hi Castiel!” the trickster says as Cas glares at him. The trickster flings his hand and Cas disappears.   
“You know him?” Sam asks.  
“Where did you just send him?” Dean asks.  
“Relax, he'll live. ...Maybe,” the trickster says, followed by laughter.  
“All right, you know what? I am done with the monkey dance, okay? We get it,” Dean says angrily.  
“Yeah? Get what, hotshot?” the trickster asks.  
“Playing our roles, right? That's your game?” Dean asks.  
“That's half the game,” replies the trickster.  
“What's the other half?” Sam asks.  
“Play your roles out there,” the trickster responds.  
“What's that supposed to mean?” asks Dean.  
“Oh, you know. Sam starring as Lucifer. Dean starring as Michael. Your celebrity death match. Play your roles,” the trickster says.  
“You want us to say yes to those sons of bitches?” Sam asks, getting angry himself.  
“Hells yeah. Let's light this candle!” says the trickster.  
“We do that, the world will end,” Sam points out.  
“Yeah? And whose fault is that? Who popped Lucifer out of the box? Hm? Look, it's started. You started it. It can't be stopped. So let's get it over with!” the trickster points out in turn, earning a glare from Sam.  
“Heaven or hell, which side you on?” Dean asks.  
“I'm not on either side,” answers the trickster.  
“Yeah, right. You're grabbing ankle for Michael or Lucifer. Which one is it?” Dean says angrily.  
“You listen to me, you arrogant dick. I don't work for either of those S.O.B.s. Believe me,” the trickster says.  
“Oh, you're somebody's bitch,” Dean replies.  
The tricksters smile instantly vanishes and he grabs Dean by the collar and slams him into the wall, causing Gracilynn to jump.  
“Don't you ever, ever presume to know what I am. Now listen very closely. Here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna suck it up, send your daughter back with her grandparents, accept your responsibilities, and play the roles that destiny has chosen for you,” the trickster says heatedly.  
“And if they don’t?” Gracilynn asks, eyeing the trickster warily. The trickster grins.  
“Then you'll stay here in TV Land. Forever. Three hundred channels and, uh, nothing's on,” he replies, snapping his fingers.


	24. Chapter 24

The three Winchesters look around them and see that they are on an island. They look at each other with their eyebrows raised.   
“So…uh…what TV show is this?” Gracilynn asks, not really wanting to know.  
“Gilligan’s Island?” Dean suggests, then gets a smirk and far off look on his face, “God, I hope it’s Gilligan’s Island. Ginger. Mary Ann.”  
“Get a hold of yourself,” Sam lectures. Dean’s smirk gets a little bigger, “And not in that way.”  
“Seriously?” Gracilynn asks, disgusted, “I do not want to be thinking about that.”  
Suddenly a blonde woman of about twenty eight walks hurriedly up to them. Dean gives her one of his trademark smirks.  
“Okay, this will do too,” he mutters. Gracilynn and Sam roll their eyes.  
“What are you three doing?” she asks flustered, “You’re supposed to be down at the beach. We’re ready to play the game.”  
“What?” the three Winchesters ask.  
“Come on,” the girl asks, annoyed, grabbing Gracilynn and dragging her along. Dean and Sam look at each other but follow the girls anyways.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

As the group reaches the beach, Gracilynn notices an even bigger group standing on it. A man is standing in front of them and in the water are two sets of pillars, each connected by a long log.   
“Ah, hell, seriously?” Gracilynn says. Dean and Sam look over at her.   
“What?” they ask.  
“I hate “real” TV,” she complains.  
“Welcome, to the first elimination showdown of Collegiate vs. High School dropout,” the man says, “Please get into your groups.”  
The mass of people separate into two groups, the blonde grabbing a hold of Gracilynn and Dean and pulling them over to the side while a dark haired man grabs Sam and pulls him to the other group. Gracilynn and Dean look around and take in the group of people surrounding them.  
“I guess this is the high school dropout side,” Dean says, then looks at Gracilynn, “Why are you here?”  
“I don’t know, maybe because I haven’t graduated yet,” Gracilynn answer then looks over at her uncle, “Why is Uncle Sam over there? I though he didn’t graduate college.”  
“I don’t know, maybe going to college is enough,” Dean says.  
“In order to win this challenge and gain immunity, sending the other group up the mountain to vote a tribal member off, you need to climb up the ladder on the first pillar. Once at the top you need to cross the log over to the next pillar. The person who has the fastest time wins. However, if you fall off the log, you are instantly disqualified, resulting in the opponent winning,” the man explains, “Has both teams decided on their competitor?”  
Both groups nod their heads.   
“Good. Collegiates, who will be competing for you?” the man asks. The other group all but shoves Sam forward, who is looking over to Dean for help. Dean shrugs his shoulder, not sure what to do himself. “Drop outs?”  
The group Dean and Gracilynn are with part and give Dean a shove forward as well. Gracilynn doesn’t like this one bit and takes a step forward, but the blonde holds her back.  
“This isn’t your fight sweetheart,” she says, “It’s theirs. All you need to do is stand back and watch.”  
Gracilynn looks over at her, realizing this is the trickster. And naturally, I don’t have a damn stake. The blonde gives her a smirk and disappears. Gracilynn looks back towards her dad and uncle and sees them strapped in lifejackets, Dean in green and Sam in red, sitting in a boat. A muscular man starts the boat and takes them out to deeper water towards the pillars where Gracilynn sees the two of them begin climbing the pillars and standing on the top.   
“I really hate real life TV,” Gracilynn almost whines.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

“Dean?” Sam asks, staring at the thirty foot drop into the water below.  
“Yeah, I don’t like this either,” Dean says, staring at the drop himself. He looks up and sees Sam looking at him like he used to, before he went…well before he left. Like he was looking to him to fix this and make everything all better. “This’ll be as easy as pie. Nothing we can’t handle Sam.”  
Sam nods his head and looks back down at the water. A horn blows and they look at each other one last time before stepping onto their respective logs. Back on the beach, Gracilynn watches as her dad and uncle begin crossing to the other side. She doesn’t realize she’s holding her breath until she starts to feel light headed and she lets it out, taking in a deep breath of fresh air. They’ve reached the halfway point and Gracilynn silently prays that they’ll make it to the other side without falling. Sam forces himself to breath and glances over to see his brother doing the same. Unfortunately, Sam takes a step without looking and his foot slips sending him crashing down. In order to save himself from a very nasty ‘between-the-leg-collision’, Sam twists his body. Dean hears a yelp and looks over just in time to see Sam loose his footing and is sent over the edge.  
“Sam!” Dean says, reaching out to grab him, forgetting he is in the same predicament. Gracilynn sees her uncle fall followed closely behind by her father. Her heart stutters and she makes a move towards the water, feeling herself being held back. She looks back and sees the blonde haired woman, the trickster, holding on to her.  
“Sorry sweetheart, but you have to learn to play your role too,” she says. Gracilynn’s eyebrows narrow in confusion.  
“And what’s that?” she asks.  
“To do nothing,” she says, “This isn’t your fight. The only thing you need to do is stand on the sidelines and watch destiny take its’ course.”  
“Like hell I will,” Gracilynn says, ripping her arm out of the tricksters grasp and turning towards the water.

 

Instead of seeing the water, she finds herself in the back of an ambulance in the middle of the night. She shoves off the paramedics hands and looks around for her dad and uncle, but doesn’t see them.   
“Reality TV sucks,” Gracilynn says, looking at the scene in front of her. There is a man lying on the ground by a tree with an open stomach wound. Cameras are flashing and crime scene markers are scattered around him. Outside the crime scene tape, she finally sees her dad and uncle and she lets out a relieved sigh. They turn around and she sees them in suits with matching blue shirts and sunglasses. Gracilynn raises her eyebrows at the sight before her.   
“Oh, come on,” Gracilynn hears her dad say in irritation and she smirks. Dean looks around and spots her in the ambulance. He smacks Sam in the arm and the two of them make their way over to her.  
“You okay?” Dean says, quickly checking her over.  
“Would it be inappropriate if I started singing ‘I wear my sunglasses at night’?” Gracilynn asks with a smirk. Dean gives her an ‘I’m-not-amused’ look when one of the police officers walk over to them.   
“So what do you think?” he asks.   
“What do I think? I think go screw yourself, that's what I think,” Dean says, his voice laced with annoyance.   
“Uh, could you give us a sec, please? Thanks,” Sam says. The police officer nods his head and turns away back to the crime scene.  
“You gotta calm down,” Sam says, giving Gracilynn a quick warning look when he notices the smirk on her face.   
“Calm down? I am wearing sunglasses at night,” Dean says as he yanks them off, “You know who does that? No-talent douchebags.”  
Sam and Gracilynn both nod in agreement.   
“I hate this game. I hate that we're in a procedural cop show and you wanna know why? Because I hate procedural cop shows. There's like three hundred of them on television and they're all the freaking same. It's ooh, plane crashed here—oh shut up,” Dean rants. Gracilynn knows exactly how he feels. She actually likes cop shows but reality TV? The world would be a much better place without it.   
“Hey,” Sam says, noticing something at the crime scene.  
“What?” Dean and Gracilynn ask.  
“Check out sweet tooth over there,” Sam says, nodding to the officer sucking on a lollipop.  
“Think that’s him?” Dean asks.  
“Just, um, follow my lead,” Sam says, walking over towards the body with Dean following him. They both put their sunglasses back on as the crime-scene tape is raised to let them underneath it.   
“You, uh, you okay?” the officer asks.  
“Yeah. What do we got?” Dean asks. The officer kneels down next to the body.  
“Well, aside from the ligature marks around his neck, he has what appears to be a roll of quarters jammed down his throat,” he replies. He takes off his sunglasses and pulls out a flashlight, taking a closer look at the body. Sam follows suit, also taking off his sunglasses.  
“Well I say, jackpot,” Sam says. The officer looks up at him and snorts in amusement. Sam puts his sunglasses back on.  
“Also, there is a stab wound to the lower abdomen,” the officer says, indicating the bloodstain with his lollipop. Dean picks up a stick and begins poking at the hole in the shirt with it resulting in blood getting on the stick.   
“Well, I say, no guts, no glory,” Dean says after putting his sunglasses back on. The officer laughs.  
“Get that guy a Tums,” Sam says, taking his glasses off again.  
“Gutter ball,” Dean says, the officer still laughing. Gracilynn hears the conversation from the ambulance and rolls her eyes at their antics, trying to hide a smirk of her own.  
“Good one guys,” the officer says. Dean comes up behind him with a stick. The officer turns towards him and Dean stabs him in the stomach. The officer collapses, struggling to breath. Gracilynn looks around and notices none of the extras seem to notice or care. However, one of the officers begins laughing and morphs into the trickster.  
“You've got the wrong guy, idiots,” he says.  
“Did we?” Dean asks with cockiness. Sam stakes the trickster from behind and he falls over.   
Gracilynn looks around and sees they are no longer outside, but instead in the warehouse. The trickster is still lying on the floor with the stake through him however.   
“I’m never watching TV again,” Gracilynn says, looking over at the elder Winchesters, who smirk in response.


	25. Chapter 25

“I’m worried, man. What that SOB did to Cas. You know, where is he?” Dean says after brushes his teeth and spitting into the sink. He receives no response and he walks over to the door peering out into the room. “Sam?”  
Dean looks around, but save for Gracilynn passed out in one of the beds, the room is empty.  
“Where are you?” he asks, getting a bad feeling in his stomach. He quickly puts his toothbrush away and goes back out into the room. He grabs his jacket and keys and opens the door.  
“You had so better not be thinking about leaving me here by myself again,” Gracilynn says from the bed. Dean halts midway through the door and looks back at his daughter, still sprawled out on the bed, eyes still closed. He begins to think he was hearing things when she pops open one eye and fixes him with a stern look.  
“You’re getting too good at that,” Dean accuses.  
“I had a good teacher,” Gracilynn says, not moving besides opening her other eye.  
“I didn’t teach you that,” Dean argues.  
“I learned through observation,” Gracilynn says, smirking. Dean huffs.  
“Well, let’s go then,” he says, waving her on and holding the door open for her. Gracilynn jumps out of the bed and, grabbing her own coat, walks out the door shooting a cocky look at her dad on the way out. Someone’s feeling cocky today Dean thinks. Then something else comes to mind. Wow, is this how everyone else feels when I give them that look? Dean shakes his head and shuts the door behind him.  
Dean heads to the car, his phone to his ear already, sighing in aggravation when all he gets is Sam’s voicemail. He looks up at Gracilynn already in the front seat, watching him. He climbs in to the drivers’ seat, shutting the door behind him.   
“Sam. It’s me. Where the hell did you go?” Dean says into the phone, snapping it shut when he’s done. Gracilynn looks over at him.  
“Voicemail?” she asks.  
“Yeah,” Dean says, tossing her his phone, “Here, keep calling.”  
Gracilynn catches the phone easily, startling when she hears her uncle’s voice coming from inside the car.  
“Dean?” he asks in a weird voice. Dean looks around the car, not seeing his brother anywhere, his eyes falling on his daughter who looks just as confused.  
“Sam? Where are you?” Dean asks.  
“I don’t know,” is the reply.  
“Well, that’s helpful,” Gracilynn says, watching the radio. Dean looks where she is and notices a red light flashing in time with Sam’s words. He looks over at Gracilynn who has come to the same realization.  
“Dude, are you…?” Gracilynn says, staring at the radio.  
“Oh crap. I don’t think we killed the Trickster,” Sam says.  
“Now why would you say that?” Gracilynn asks sarcastically.   
“You’d better watch yourself Shortstuff,” Sam says, “Even as a car I’m bigger than you.”  
A few minutes later, Gracilynn finds herself chuckling to herself. Dean looks over at her, confused.   
“What?” Dean and Sam say at the same time.  
“Nothing,” Gracilynn says, smirking.  
“What?” Dean asks more forcibly.   
“I was just thinking,” Gracilynn starts.  
“Well, that’s never a good thing,” Sam says.   
“I was just thinking,” Gracilynn starts again, “That it’s a good thing the trickster didn’t turn you in to a clown car huh Uncle Sammy? I mean, you could have like ten clown inside of you all at once.”  
“Bite me,” Sam says as Dean chuckles and Gracilynn smirks at her own joke.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

“Okay, stake didn't work. So, what, this is another trick?” Dean thinks aloud as he drives down the road.  
“I don't know. Maybe the stake didn't work because it's not a trickster?” Sam says through the speakers.  
“What do you mean?” Dean asks.  
“You heard Cas. He said this thing was too powerful to be a trickster,” Sam points out.  
“And did you notice the way he looked at Cas? Almost like he knew him,” Dean adds.  
“And how pissed he got when you brought up Michael and Lucifer,” Sam continues.  
“And how they fought like brothers,” Gracilynn chimes in getting a look from Dean, “Dude, I have seen you two fight…numerous times.”  
Dean thinks about everything for a second as Gracilynn goes quiet, trying not to think about watching her uncle walk away and climb into that truck again.  
“Son of a bitch,” Dean says. Gracilynn turns to look at him.  
“What?” Sam and Gracilynn ask.  
“I think I know what we're dealing with,” Dean says.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

The Impala is parked in Centennial Point Wilderness Area, with its’ trunk open. Dean is rummaging around in it trying to find something while Gracilynn is sitting on the bumper next to him.  
“Dean?” Sam says.  
“What?” Dean says.  
“That, uh, feels really uncomfortable,” Sam says.  
“Well, if you didn’t have so much junk in your trunk Uncle Sam…” Gracilynn says, smirking again. Dean smirks himself, shutting the trunk.  
“Ow. You sure this is gonna work?” Sam says, ignoring his niece. She had been on his case the whole car ride and she wasn’t going to let up.  
“No, but I have no other ideas,” Dean says, going to the front of the car and shouting at the sky, “All right, you son of a bitch! Uncle! We'll do it!”  
“Should I honk?” Sam asks. Gracilynn snorts, leaning on the hood of the Impala. “Really Gracilynn?”  
“Wow. Sam. Get a load of the rims on you,” the trickster says, appearing out of nowhere.   
“Eat me,” Sam replies.  
“Okay, boys. Ready to go quietly?” the trickster asks. Gracilynn crosses her arms in front of her.  
“Whoa whoa whoa, not so fast. Nobody's going anywhere until Sam has opposable thumbs,” Dean says.  
“What's the difference? Satan's going to ride his ass one way or another,” the trickster says earning a look from Dean and Gracilynn. The trickster rolls his eyes and snaps his fingers resulting in the Kitt lights to go out. Sam opens the door and climbs out of the front passenger seat. “Happy?”  
“Tell me one thing. Why didn't the stake kill you?” Dean asks.  
“I am the trickster.”  
“Or maybe you’re not,” Dean challenges. Sam holds up a flaming cigarette lighter and throws it to the ground, a ring of fire appearing around the trickster. “Maybe you've always been an angel.”  
“A what?” the trickster says, looking incredulously at them and laughing. “Somebody slip a mickey in your power shake, kid?”  
“I'll tell you what. You just jump out of the holy fire and we'll call it our mistake,” Dean says, earning another laugh from the trickster, who then abruptly stops. Suddenly they’re back in the warehouse again, the trickster clapping for them.  
“Well played, boys. Well played. Where'd you get the holy oil?” he says.  
“Well, you might say we pulled it out of Sam's ass,” Dean says, earning a smirk from his daughter.  
“Where'd I screw up?” the trickster asks.  
“You didn't. Nobody gets the jump on Cas like you did,” Sam says.  
“Mostly it was the way you talked about Armageddon,” Dean says.  
“Meaning?” the trickster asks.  
“Well, call it personal experience, but nobody gets that angry unless they're talking about their own family,” Dean says, glancing at Gracilynn quickly before looking back at the trickster.  
“So which one are you? Grumpy, Sneezy, or Douchey?” Sam asks.  
“Gabriel, okay? They call me Gabriel.”  
“Gabriel? The archangel?” Sam asks.  
“Guilty.”  
“Okay, Gabriel. How does an archangel become a trickster?” Dean asks.  
“My own private witness protection. I skipped out of heaven, had a face transplant, carved out my own little corner of the world. Till you two screwed it all up,” Gabriel answers.  
“What did Daddy say when you ran off and joined the pagans?” Dean asks.  
“Daddy doesn't say anything about anything,” Gabriel says, miffed.   
“Then what happened? Why'd you ditch?” Sam asks.  
“Do you blame him? I mean, his brothers are heavyweight douchenozzles,” Dean adds.  
“Shut your cakehole. You don't know anything about my family. I love my father, my brothers. Love them. But watching them turn on each other? Tear at each other's throats? I couldn't bear it! Okay? So I left. And now it's happening all over again,” Gabriel says angrily.  
“Then help us stop it,” Sam says.  
“It can’t be stopped,” says Gabriel, earning a scoff from Gracilynn. Gabriel gives her a look.  
“You wanna see the end of the world?” Dean asks, directing the attention back on them.  
“I want it to be over! I have to sit back and watch my own brothers kill each other thanks to you two! Heaven, hell, I don't care who wins, I just want it to be over,” Gabriel responds.  
“It doesn't have to be like that. There has to be some way to, to pull the plug,” Sam says, earning a laugh from Gabriel.  
“You do not know my family. What you guys call the apocalypse, I used to call Sunday dinner. That's why there's no stopping this, because this isn't about a war. It's about two brothers that loved each other and betrayed each other. You'd think you'd be able to relate,” Gabriel says.  
“What are you talking about?” Sam asks.  
“You sorry sons of bitches. Why do you think you two are the vessels? Think about it. Michael, the big brother, loyal to an absent father, and Lucifer, the little brother, rebellious of Daddy's plan. You were born to this, boys. It's your destiny! It was always you! As it is in heaven, so it must be on earth. One brother has to kill the other,” Gabriel says.  
“What the hell are you saying,” Dean asks. Gracilynn has already put two and two together and sharply sucks in a breath. Dean glances at her out of the corner of his eye.  
“Sounds like the youngest Winchester has figured it out. Why do you think I've always taken such an interest in you? Because from the moment Dad flipped on the lights around here, we knew it was all gonna end with you. Always,” Gabriel says, glancing at Gracilynn quickly himself. There is a long pause and then Dean and Sam look down then at each other.  
“No. That’s not gonna happen,” Dean says.  
“I’m sorry. But it is,” Gabriel says matter-of-factly, sighing. “Guys. I wish this were a TV show. Easy answers, endings wrapped up in a bow...but this is real, and it's gonna end bloody for all of us. That's just how it's gotta be.”


	26. Chapter 26

Gracilynn is curled up in the back seat of the Impala, fast asleep. They had ended up back in the warehouse and Dean got Gabriel to being Cas back. Dean had pulled the fire alarm to let Gabriel loose just before they had left and now they were headed back to Bobby’s to regroup and figure this new revelation out.   
“That sign said there’s a motel up ahead,” Sam points out. It was getting late and he was starting to cramp up. Dean nods his head and takes the next exit. Dean drives a little ways and pulls into a motel, not quite as dumpy as some of the others they’ve stayed at. Sam climbs out of the car and goes in to get a room.   
“Room 3,” Sam says, climbing back into the Impala. Dean nods his head again and drives the car towards the end of the building, parking it in the nearest space, a couple doors down from their door. The two of them exit the vehicle and grab their bags from the trunk, Sam grabbing Gracilynn’s. Dean opens the back door and shakes Gracilynn a little to wake her up.  
“Gracie, wake up. We got a room for the night,” Dean says in a low voice so as not to startle her. Gracilynn moans and turns away from him. “Wakey, wakey kiddo.”  
Gracilynn groans a little more, but slowly climbs out of the car, eyes not quite open. Dean frowns at this, grabbing her arm and gently guiding her towards the door. Gracilynn allows herself to be guided, practically sleepwalking her way to their room.   
“Watch your step,” Dean warns, but Gracilynn doesn’t hear him. She trips over the curb, almost face planting into the sidewalk. Dean’s grip on her arm tightens as he pulls her back up before she gets herself a makeover. “Okay, so this is not working.”  
Dean hears footsteps approaching him and he looks up, seeing Sam walk up to him. Sam eyes his niece and takes Dean’s bag from him, having seen the near face plant himself. He hikes the back over his shoulder and turns back towards their door.  
“The room’s this way,” he says over his shoulder. Dean nods his head and looks over at Gracilynn, seeing her eyes shut. He gently picks her up in a cradle hold, her head resting on his shoulder.  
“You’re lucky you’re not Sasquatch size like your uncle,” Dean says, hearing her breathing even out. Dean looks down the sidewalk and sees Sam waiting for him at their door and walks down to meet him. 

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Dean quietly enters the hotel room, carefully shutting the door behind him. He sets the bag of food on the table, noticing the shower is going. He looks around and realizes that Sam’s bed is empty. He glances over at Gracilynn’s bed, seeing her still fast asleep. Just as he’s about to start unpacking the bag he stops and looks back at his daughter. He stands there watching her carefully. He notices the slight tensed position of her shoulders, but other than that everything else seems as it should be if she was actually sleeping. He smirks proudly to himself.  
“Food’s here,” he says, seeing her shoulders relax.   
“Anything good?” she asks, not moving a muscle.   
“Egg sandwiches and hash browns,” Dean says, unloading the bag now. He hears movement as he takes a seat at one of the chairs. Gracilynn climbs out of bed and walks over to the table, looking like a zombie. She slumps down in the seat, earning a smirk from her father, which she returns with a glare. Dean sets a sandwich and a container of hash browns in front of her and she begins eating. The door to the bathroom opens and Sam comes out in a cloud of steam.   
“Breakfast?” he asks.  
“Yeah,” Dean answers. Sam notices his niece sitting at the table as he throws his clothes in his duffle bag.   
“Look at that, Sleeping Beauty has awaken,” Sam says, taking the other seat at the table.   
Gracilynn answers with a grunt and Sam grabs his own food, smirking at his brother. Dean returns the smirk, taking another big bite out of his sandwich.   
“I think something weird’s going on here in town,” Dean says through a mouthful of food. Sam wrinkles his nose in disgust.  
“Like our kind of weird?” he asks.  
“I was in getting the food when some old guy comes in ranting about how it’s happened again. Talked to one of the waitresses and she said that in the last two weeks four families have been found dead in their homes,” Dean says.  
“How is that our kind of weird?” Sam asks.  
“I don’t know, maybe it’s not,” Dean says defensively, “But it wouldn’t hurt to go check it out.”  
Sam nods his head in agreement, looking over at his silent niece. Dean follows his gaze and sees she is dazing off. He smirks and reaches over to grab one of her hash browns only to have her slap it away.  
“Leave my food alone,” she says, glaring at him. Dean throws his hands up in surrender.   
“Hint taken,” he says, the smirk still on his face. Sam shakes his head. Sometimes it’s really a problem trying to figure out if his brother or his niece is the older one.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

“So, what was the cause of death?” Sam asks the mortician. Dr. Albert looks over at the two FBI agents standing in front of him. He was glad they finally sent someone over to figure this mess out.  
“Cause of death? Blood loss,” Dr. Albert answers. Dean looks down at the body in front of them; it was pasty white.  
“All of them?” he asks.  
“All of them,” the doctor confirms.   
“How much blood would someone have to lose to look like this?” Dean asks.  
“All of it,” Dr. Albert answers. Sam’s head jolts up from the body he was looking at.  
“All of it?” Sam asks.  
“Yes. Every last drop,” the doctor answers.   
“Doctor,” Sam says, tipping the head to the side a little, “What are these?”  
Dr. Albert looks down at the marks on the neck.  
“I wasn’t too sure, but they looked like some sort of teeth marks,” Dr. Albert says. Sam shares a quick look with his brother.  
“Did all of the victims have these teeth marks on them?” Sam asks.  
“Yes,” Dr. Albert replies.  
“Thank You Doctor,” Sam says, holding out his hand.  
“If you two boys have any other questions feel free to contact me,” Dr. Albert says, shaking first Sam’s hand and then Dean’s, “I want to see these killing stopped.”  
“Well, we will try our hardest,” Dean assures him, sensing the doctors’ genuine concern. The doctor nods his head and leads the brothers out the door.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Dean and Sam walk in to the motel room, shutting the door behind them and Sam locking it up. Dean strips off his jacket and throws it on his bed, only then noticing his daughter lying on it. He looks at her closely and sees that she is, in fact, sleeping. He grabs his jacket and throws it on the chair, looking over at his brother.  
“Is it just me or does she seem to be sleeping a lot more since...” Dean says, thinking for a second, “Well, since the Gabriel’s stunt?”  
“Yeah, she has been,” Sam agrees, taking a seat at the table and opening up his computer, “So, what do you think? A vampire?”  
“Seems like it,” Dean says, “But there’s only that one bite mark. I’ve never heard of one vampire draining a whole family before.”  
“Yeah, me neither,” Sam says, typing some things into his internet browser, “You think Bobby’ll know anything?”  
“Maybe,” Dean says, “I’ll try giving him a call.”

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

“Thanks Bobby,” Dean says into his phone, shutting it and sitting at the table with his brother.  
“Bobby have something?” Sam asks.  
“Yeah, he thinks it’s a Loogaroo,” Dean says.  
“A what?” Sam asks, scrunching his face up.  
“A loogaroo,” Dean says, “I thought it was fake too. Either that or something like a Rugaru. Anyways, he said it could also be a Sukuyan or an Asema. They’re all very similar. They’re all a type of vampire, depending on where they’re from, depends on what they’re called.”  
“So, why did he think it’s a loogaroo?” Sam asks.  
“‘Cause it’s from Haiti,” Dean answers.  
“Oh,” Sam says.  
“Bobby said that they leave their skin and go around trying to get people to let them in their homes. When the family does, they show them their true form and suck the blood out of everyone in the house,” Dean explains.  
“He say how to kill it?” Sam asks.  
“Same as a regular vampire,” Dean says, “But here’s the clincher…”  
Sam looks up from his computer at this.  
“We have to chop the head off the body and the spirit or whatever it’s called,” Dean finishes.  
Sam gives Dean a confused expression.   
“Bobby said if we just cut the head off the body, the spirit can still roam around,” Dean explains. Sam nods his head in understanding.  
“So now the hard part is trying to figure out where the spirit part is going to be and where the thing lives,” Sam thinks out loud.  
“Yeah,” Dean says, looking over at Gracilynn, who is still fast asleep, “We should go ask around see if we can figure out who this bitch is.”  
Sam nods his head and shuts down his computer, getting up from his seat. Dean jacket and throws it back on, heading over to Gracilynn. He sits down on the bed next to her and gently shakes her, his eyebrows furrowing, feeling the heat radiating off of her. His hand instantly goes to her forehead, feeling her skin burn under it.  
“Jesus, Sam she’s burning up,” Dean says, looking over at his brother. Sam turns and looks at the two of them.  
“What?” he asks, quickly making his way over to his brother and niece, feeling her forehead for himself. “I’ll get the thermometer.”  
Dean continues to try to wake her up as Sam starts digging around in their first aid kit, finally pulling out the thermometer. He walks over to see Gracilynn grumbling awake.  
“Hey, Gracie, I need you to put this in your mouth for me okay?” Dean says, taking the thermometer from Sam and placing it in her mouth. A few minutes later and Dean takes it out, looking at the results. “Damn it. It’s 103. How the hell’d it get this far?”  
“Gracie? Hey, look at me,” Dean says, resting a hand on the side of his daughter’s face. Gracilynn slowly looks up at her dad, confusion evident in her face.  
“Dad? When’d’you get ‘ere?” she asks. Dean’s concern ratchets up another notch at the way she’s talking.   
“Hey, did you get hurt or anything?” he asks, trying to keep her looking at him. Gracilynn furrows her eyebrows.  
“‘Urt? No, just…” Gracilynn says, starting to nod back off to sleep.   
“Hey, hey,” Dean calls out to her. Gracilynn slowly opens her eyes again.  
“‘M tired,” she whines.  
“Yeah, I know baby, but listen. Just what?” Dean asks.  
“Just what?” Gracilynn asks, confused.  
“You said you weren’t hurt, you were just…?” Dean explains.  
“Oh… my ‘ead ‘urts. ‘N ‘m cold,” Gracilynn says, shivering as if on cue.   
“Ok, I need you to swallow these okay?” Dean says, grabbing the Ibuprofen and water from his approaching brother. Gracilynn scrunches up her face. “Please?”  
“F’ne,” Gracilynn says, swallowing the pills.   
“That’s my girl,” Dean says, setting the cup on the bedside table and situating his already sleeping daughter on the bed under the covers. He tucks her in and looks over at his brother. “We can’t leave her like this.”  
“You stay,” Sam says, “I’ll go ask around, see what I can dig up.”  
“Be careful,” Dean calls after him. Sam nods his head and leaves the room, sending one last look at his niece. Dean looks down at his daughter, sighing. “Dammit Gracie, why didn’t you say anything?”


	27. Chapter 27

“Hi, I’m Agent Hendrix,” Sam says to the elderly woman who has just opened the door. He holds up his badge for her to see. “Are you Mrs. Greggors?”  
“Yes I am,” she says, giving Sam a grandmotherly smile, “Would you like to come in?”  
“Thank you,” Sam says, following her inside the house, “I just a few questions for you.”  
“Is this about all of the killings that have been happening?” Mrs. Greggors asks.   
“Yes it is. Some people have said that you might know something that might help us solve this case,” Sam says, hoping that this lead will pay off. He had been talking to people all day with no such luck. He wanted to get back to the motel to see how Gracilynn was doing.  
“I’m not sure how I can help you, but I’ll try,” Greggors says, “Those poor families. It’s horrible what happened to them.”  
“Yes, it is,” Sam says, “Mrs. Greggors, have you noticed anyone acting strange at all around town?”  
“Well, that depends on what you mean by strange,” Mrs. Greggors answers, “Tommy Stone has been acting strange but that’s because he’s cheating on Marissa. Jason Becker is also acting strange but he’s going to propose to his girlfriend. Oh, and Leanne Wilmington has also been acting strange but she’s planning a surprise birthday party for her husband.”  
“Oh,” Sam says, thinking he just might’ve come to the right place, “I’m thinking more along the lines of maybe someone new coming into town or doing something out of the ordinary. Without a logical reason.”  
“Well…let me see,” Mrs. Greggors says, thinking. Her eyes light up a little. “There is a new girl who has come into town. She’s renting the apartment on Jackson street. The upper one. She seems very strange.”  
“Why is that?” Sam asks, leaning forward slightly.  
“Well, she doesn’t come out at night,” Mrs. Greggors replies.  
“Maybe she goes to bed early?” Sam asks.  
“She’s only twenty eight,” Mrs. Greggors says, “What twenty eight year old do you know that never goes out at night? Not even on a Friday night?”  
“Thank you, Mrs. Greggors,” Sam says, thinking he has finally found their Loogaroo. He stands up and shakes the elderly woman’s hand.  
“If you have any other questions, feel free to stop by,” she says, letting him out the door.  
“I will, thank you,” Sam says again, forcing himself not to run down to the Impala.  
“Be careful now, dearie,” the woman calls after him, shutting the door behind her. Sam climbs into the car and pulls out his phone, quickly dialing his brothers’ number. Hopefully, this is it and they can finish this job so they can get back to Gracilynn.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Dean is sitting in the armchair, his feet propped up on his bed, body facing Gracilynn. Sam had been keeping him updated on his success, or lack thereof considering he had found squat so far. He just wanted to get this hunt done and over with so they could focus solely on Gracilynn. Sam was worried too, he had asked about her every time he had called. Unfortunately, she was getting any better, even with the ibuprofen and ice packs. In fact, she had been steadily getting worse. He had just taken her temperature fifteen minutes ago and it had risen to 104.3. If it didn’t go down soon, he was going to throw his no hospital rule out the window and take her. There is a groan coming from the bed and Dean breaks out of his thoughts, looking over at his daughter. She had started to shift around restlessly and her face had an almost pained expression. Dean gets up from his chair and sits down on the bed next to her, running a hand through her hair.  
“Gracie,” he says, “Hey, it’s all right. You’re safe.”  
Gracilynn lets out an almost whimper and tosses her head towards him.  
“I’m sorry,” she says quietly. Dean own face scrunches up, only his is in confusion.  
“Hey, there’s nothing to be sorry about,” Dean says, trying to comfort her.  
“Please don’t be mad,” Gracilynn says.  
“I’m not mad, Gracie,” Dean says, trying to figure out what is going on in that head of hers.  
“I couldn’t let them take me away. I had to do it,” Gracilynn mutters. The light bulb clicks in Dean’s brain and he realizes she must be talking about her grandparents. He just didn’t know why she thought he would be mad. Well…maybe he could understand that, but he wasn’t.  
“Don’t worry about it. It’s okay,” Dean says.  
“Please don’t leave me,” Gracilynn says through a half sob. Now Dean really was taken aback. Why would she think he’d leave her? No way in hell would he leave her. And he doesn’t use that term loosely anymore.   
“Gracie, listen to me,” Dean says, holding the sides of her face, trying to get her attention, “I’m not gonna leave you. I promise. No way would I ever leave you.”  
“Please don’t leave,” Gracilynn whimpers again, “I did it for us.”  
“Gracie,” Dean says firmly, not knowing why she is saying these things. “Gracie, look at…”  
Dean is cut off by his cell phone ringing. He looks over at it and sees it’s Sam calling. He debates whether or not to just let it go to voicemail, but glancing back at Gracilynn sees her calmly sleeping again. He sighs to himself and grabs the phone, answering it as he begins to walk towards the table. He really needed a drink right now.  
“Hey Sam,” Dean says.  
“Hey. How’s she doing?” Sam asks.  
“I don’t know. Not good. Her fever’s up to 104.3 now and she’s been talking in her sleep,” Dean says.   
“You okay? You sound off?” Sam asks, noticing the hitch in his brother’s voice.  
“I’m fine,” Dean says, clearing his throat.  
“What’d she say?” Sam asks.  
“Kept saying she was sorry and telling me not to be mad. Said she couldn’t let them take her away and that she had to do it,” Dean answers.  
“Her grandparents,” Sam says, not needing to ask the question.  
“Yeah, but…” Dean starts but fades off. Sam waits but doesn’t hear anything.  
“What else did she say?” Sam prods, knowing there was more.  
“She kept begging me not to leave her,” Dean says.   
“Well, that goes along with her thinking we’ll hate her,” Sam says, remembering their conversation a while back.  
“What’s going on Sam?” Dean asks.  
“I don’t know,” Sam says, “We’ll have to talk to her when she gets better.”  
“Yeah,” Dean says. And this time, I’m not taking ‘I’m fine’ for an answer. He then remembers Sam had probably called for another reason on top of checking up on Gracilynn. “You find anything?”  
“Yeah, I think I did. Seems like there’s this girl who moved into town a few weeks ago,” Sam says.  
“Right when the killing started happening,” Dean thinks aloud.”  
“Yeah, well, the lady I just talked to, Mrs. Greggors, said she never comes out at night,” Sam says.  
“So, maybe she goes to bed early,” Dean says.  
“She’s twenty eight,” Sam says.  
“Oh,” Dean says, “Not even on Friday nights?”  
“Not even on Friday nights,” Sam confirms.  
“So, either she is a hermit or she’s our girl,” Dean says.  
“Seems that way,” Sam says, “I’m gonna go check her out, stake out the place.”  
“Whoa, hold on there,” Dean says, “You’re not going alone.”  
“Dean, if you come with me, then who’s going to stay with Gracilynn?” Sam points out. Dean looks over at the sleeping form on his bed and he silently curses under his breath.  
“Fine, just be careful,” Dean says, “And call me if you find anything.”  
“I will,” Sam says, hanging up the phone. Dean does the same, putting his phone in his pocket and sitting back down in the arm chair, continues his vigil over his sick daughter.

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN  
Sam parks the car about a block away from Miranda Leoney’s apartment and climbs out, looking around before pulling the machete out of the Impala’s trunk. He quickly makes his way sneakily over to the building she’s living in and looks around, not seeing anything. He makes quick work of the lock and, shutting the door behind him, quietly walks up the stairs. He looks around, finally finding the bedroom. He gently pushes the door open silently. He looks on the bed and sees a woman lying down, unmoving. He looks around again and slowly moves towards the bed, watching her, but she doesn’t move.   
“How the hell am I supposed to know if this is the Loogaroo?” Sam mutters trying to find any intonation that can tell him she’s it. He pulls out his phone and dials Bobby’s number.  
“What?” comes the gruff voice.  
“How am I supposed to tell if she’s the Loogaroo or not?” Sam asks.  
“Boy are you there with the damn thing?” Bobby grumbles.  
“Yeah,” Sam says, nodding his head to the side.   
“Dammit boy,” Bobby says, “Where the hell’s your brother?”  
“Back at the motel,” Sam answers, “Gracilynn’s really sick. Neither one of us wanted to leave her by herself.”  
“Balls,” Bobby says, “Alright, well, I don’t know. Turn on a light, see if she wakes up.”  
“Seriously? Turn on the light? That’s your full of wisdom answer?” Sam asks with a smirk.  
“Just turn on the damn light, ya idjit,” Bobby grouses. Sam takes one last look at the still form on the bed and then turns on the light. The woman doesn’t move an inch. “Anything?”  
“Nothing, she didn’t move a muscle,” Sam says, lifting a foot and nudging her, ready to strike. There is no response. “Something tells me she’s it.”  
“Well, then take care of the damn job and get back to your brother and niece,” Bobby says, hanging up the phone, muttering as he does so. Sam hangs up his phone, shoving it back in his pocket. He makes his way back to the girl’s head and raises the machete.   
“I hope I’m right about this,” Sam says, swinging the machete and coming into contact with her neck, slicing through. There is a loud screeching scream. Sam stumbles back staring at the girl on the bed, but she’s not moving. There is a loud whoosh of air and he looks over to his left, seeing the spirit of the girl appear in its vampire form. It screams and charges right at him and Sam steps to the side, swinging the machete and striking through the spirits neck. The head separates, falling to the floor, both parts being yanked back into the body on the bed. Sam stares at the body but nothing else happens. He hears sirens in the background and decides it’s time to get out of there. 

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Sam climbs in to the Impala and pulls out his phone, pushing his brothers’ speed dial and putting the phone to his ear. His brother picks up after the fifth ring.  
“Sammy?” Dean asks tiredly.  
“Hey,” Sam says.  
“You get the Bitch?” Dean asks.  
“Yeah, all good,” Sam says, then continues, “You sleep yet?”  
“No,” Dean answers as Sam looks at the clock.  
“Dude, it’s like four in the morning,” Sam says.  
“I’m sorry Sam. But sleeping hasn’t really been at the forefront of my mind. I’ve been more concerned over my nightmare induced dreaming daughter,” Dean says sarcastically. Sam forces himself to take a deep breath.  
“I know,” he says, “I’ll be back soon.”  
“Kay, see ya,” Dean replies, hanging up the phone. Dean sets his phone on the table and rubs a hand through his hair and down his face. He leans back in the chair and watches his daughter. He had just gotten her calmed down from one of her episodes and was glad Sam was done and on his way back.   
“Jesus, Gracie,” Dean says tiredly, “What’d you do?”


	28. Chapter 28

Gracilynn rolls over in bed, her knees hitting something in their way. Her eyebrows scrunch up, confused as to what would be in her way. She listens closely and hears deep breathing, one in front of her and another to her left. She blinks her eyes and slowly opens them. She can tell it’s light out from the sunlight shining through the closed curtains. She looks across from her and sees her uncle lying on the bed facing her, fast asleep. There is a movement to her left and she tilts her head seeing her dad slouched in a chair, fast asleep himself. Her gaze moves to the bed and notices her dad’s feet resting on the bed. She looks back up at her dad and really looks at him this time. He looks exhausted and she has no idea why. She situates herself, noticing she doesn’t feel as crappy as she did earlier. She also notices that nature calls, badly. She begins slithering herself out from under her covers, careful not to wake her dad or uncle up. She slides off the bed standing up, quickly grabbing the bedside table and shutting her eyes due to the lightheadedness she’s experiencing.   
“Gracie? The hell?” Gracilynn hears her dad say. She feels a pair of hands steady her and begin to settle her back on the bed.  
“No,” Gracilynn says, “Bathroom.”  
Dean nods his head in understanding and helps her back up leading her to the bathroom. Once at the door, Gracilynn pulls from his grasp going into the bathroom shutting the door behind her.  
“Don’t lock it,” Dean says. Gracilynn snorts but doesn’t lock it. Dean looks over at hearing his brother rouse from his own bed. Sam looks around and sees the bed and chair empty. He notices Dean standing near the bathroom.  
“She up?” he asks.  
“Yeah,” Dean says, “Finally.”  
The bathroom door opens and Gracilynn comes out. Dean reaches out to help her back to the bed .  
“No offense dad,” Gracilynn says, “But, I think I can make it to the bed myself.”  
Dean bites his tongue, but lets his daughter do this on her own. However, this doesn’t stop him from hovering behind her ready to grab her if she needs it. Gracilynn takes a seat back down on the bed, Dean sitting on the opposite bed next to Sam. Gracilynn looks over at them, confused by they’re worried looks.  
“Dude, what’s up with you two?” Gracilynn asks, “Oh, did you guys kill the Loop De Loop thing?”  
“Loogaroo,” Sam corrects her, “And yeah, almost three days ago.”  
“Three days ago?!” Gracilynn asks, surprised.   
“Gracie, you’ve been out for almost three days,” Dean explains, noticing the still confused look on her face. “You had a fever over 104. It just broke late last night.”   
“Oh,” Gracilynn says, not knowing what else to say. Dean watches her, not sure if he should bring up what she was saying in her fever induced sleep. Gracilynn notices the hesitation on her dad’s face. “What?”  
Dean studies her for a minute, making up his mind to test the waters. Gracilynn watches him carefully, not sure what he’s thinking.   
“The fever was making you talk,” Dean says, noticing her eyes grow wider before she quickly covers it up. She forces a laugh.  
“Let me guess, killer spider?” she says. Dean sighs.  
“You obviously miss your grandparents,” Dean says, “Feel guilty about what you did.”  
“I’m fine,” Gracilynn says. Sam scoffs.  
“Yeah, you’re about as fine as Dean is when he says the same thing,” Sam says. Dean and Gracilynn send him identical glares. Sam just shrugs. Dean looks back at his daughter, taking out his phone.   
“Tell ya what, I’m gonna call them. Let them know we’re coming up to visit,” Dean says, making a show of looking for their number. Gracilynn panics.  
“No!” she says, jumping up and grabbing her dad’s arm, stopping him in his search. Sam’s eyes scrunch together. Dean looks over at her, eyebrows raised.  
“I…” Gracilynn stutters out, not finding the words to say. Dean’s eyebrows raise a little higher. He puts his phone back in his pocket and sits back down next to his brother, watching Gracilynn. Gracilynn follows his lead and sits back down on the bed across from them, folding her arms across her chest, looking off to the side. Dean and Sam watch her for a minute before she turns back to look at them, both of them taken back by the tears welling up in her eyes.   
“Gracie? What happened?” Dean asks, making sure to keep his voice low as if he’s talking to a scared animal because let’s face it, Gracilynn looks scared shitless. Gracilynn shakes her head, looking away towards the door. Dean notices where her gaze is lingering and shifts his body to interrupt it.  
“No way, Gracie,” Dean says, “You aren’t running away from this.”  
“Why don’t you want to tell us Smalls?” Sam asks, matching his voice to his brothers. Gracilynn glances at him before her eyes move to anywhere but them. Sam narrows his eyebrows, looking over at Dean who’s expression probably matches his own. Sam knew exactly when the light bulb went off in his brothers’ head and shortly after, he realized the same conclusion. Dean looks back at his daughter.   
“You think we’ll leave you,” Dean says. A single tear escapes and trails down her cheek. Dean feels a slight annoyance at this. He thought they had already been over this. He leans forward and looks at Gracilynn. “Gracilynn look at me.”  
Gracilynn turns her head, making herself obey her fathers’ order. Satisfied, Dean continues, never breaking eye contact with her.   
“I don’t care what happened. Sam doesn’t care what happened. It doesn’t matter. Nothing could make us leave you. Nothing could make us hate you,” Dean says. Gracilynn laughs in irony, sniffing. “Gracie, you need to tell us what happened with your grandparents.”  
“I can’t,” Gracilynn says, meeting her dad’s eyes.   
“Why not?” Dean asks.  
“Because…” Gracilynn begins, her dad waiting for her patiently. “Because you said it yourself. There’s no excuse for cutting your family out of your life.”  
“What?” Dean asks.  
“The Amish job,” Sam says, remembering the talk he had with her afterwards. Dean looks at him, what he said coming back to him. He looks back at his daughter, trying to figure out what that had to do with this.  
“You didn’t cut them out of your life,” Dean says, not all too certain. Another tear falls down Gracilynn’s cheek.  
“Smalls?” Sam asks, the wheels turning in his head. Dean’s own wheels beginning to turn as well. “You completely erased yourself from their memories,” Sam says, reaching the conclusion just before Dean.  
“Gracie you didn’t…?” Dean asks.  
“I had to,” Gracilynn says, the tears flowing freely.   
“Why?” Dean asks around a lump in his throat, remembering what she had said when she was sick. I did it for us. Gracilynn just looks at him. “You shouldn’t have done that. You could’ve gotten away…”  
“No I couldn’t’ve,” Gracilynn says, “If I just erased them taking me away and Zach talking to them, Zach would’ve just went back. Or they would’ve concocted something up themselves. This was the only way.”  
Dean runs a hand down his face, Sam a hand through his hair.   
“You really shouldn’t have done that,” Sam says, repeating what his brother said.   
“Gracie what if something happens to us,” Dean points out, “Especially now with…”  
“What? Lucifer and Michael?” Gracilynn asks angrily. “You said you weren’t saying yes.”  
“And we aren’t, but that doesn’t mean nothing will happen to us,” Dean says.   
“Well, I’m sorry for screwing everything up on you,” Gracilynn snaps. Dean sighs.  
“Gracie, that’s not what we’re talking about,” Dean says.  
“You wanna know why I did it?” Gracilynn says, just short of yelling. Dean stops talking and looks at her. “Because you two are the only family that I have left that truly gives a shit about me.”  
“That’s not true,” Sam says, “Your grandparents care about you.”  
“My grandfather hated me,” Gracilynn says, “Was pissed because I acted too much like dad. My grandmother?”  
“Loved you,” Dean says.  
“It wasn’t the same,” Gracilynn says, “She never understood me. She…”  
“She what?” Sam asks.  
“She’s not home,” Gracilynn whispers, deflating. Sam looks over at his brother, meeting his eyes. Dean sighs and looks back at his daughter. Sam looks over at her too.  
“I get it,” Sam says. Gracilynn looks over at him. “You and Dean are my home too.”  
Dean rolls his eyes and looks over at his brother, giving him a look. Sam doesn’t pay attention and Dean looks back at his daughter.   
“Come here,” he says, holding an arm out. Gracilynn gives him a small smile and gives him a hug. She grabs Sam’s arm and pulls him in as well, Dean welcoming him in to the embrace. Dean pulls away and looks at the two of them. “Come on, let’s blow this popsicle stand.”  
Gracilynn grins and grabs her bag, debating whether she should shower first but deciding it was later already and they would just grab another hotel room later on. She’d shower then. Sam grabs his own bag and leads Gracilynn out the door to the Impala. They had packed earlier, seeing that Gracilynn’s fever broke and were hoping to skip town and grab another hotel room farther away. They had already spent too long here. Dean grabs his bag and watches them exit the room, a small smile playing on his lips before he whispers to no one in particular.   
“Yeah, you guys are my home too.”


	29. Chapter 29

Gracilynn looks up from where she’s sprawled out on Bobby’s couch, back leaning against one couch arm and her legs barely long enough to let her feet reach Sam, reading one of the new magazines her dad picked up for her on their way to Bobby’s. There was a knock at the door and Bobby disappears to see who it is. Dean walks into the living room from the kitchen with his beer and gently hits Gracilynn a couple times on the shoulder to get her to move. She rolls her eyes but moves down the couch and Dean sits where she was sitting. Gracilynn leans back against him and props her feet onto Sam’s lap as Bobby walks into the room with two woman. As if it’s second nature, Sam lifts his arms to allow Gracilynn to put her feet on his lap.   
“Boys,” Bobby says, nodding to the newcomers. Gracilynn raises an eyebrow, looking up at him. “And girl.”  
“Hey Ellen. Jo,” Dean says from his seat.  
“Hey,” Sam says.  
“Boys,” Ellen says in a way of greeting, eyeing Gracilynn. “How’re things going?”  
“Just peachy,” Dean says, then noticing where Ellen and Jo are looking. “Guys, this is my daughter, Gracilynn. Gracilynn, this is Ellen and her daughter Jo.”  
“Hey,” Gracilynn says, grinning over at them.  
“Hey,” Ellen and Jo say at the same time, surprised at the revelation of Dean having a kid. Well, maybe not so much as him having a kid but more him having a kid with him. Ellen looks back at the men. “So, do we have a plan to get the colt or are we just gonna go in half-cocked like you boys like to do?”

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

“I still don’t see why I couldn’t have gone with them,” Gracilynn grouches from the couch. Bobby rolls his eyes and Ellen smirks.  
“Couldn’t tell who her dad is could ya?” Ellen says to Bobby quietly. Bobby smirks and nods his agreement and then looks over towards Gracilynn.  
“Quite your poutin’ and come over here,” Bobby calls out, “You’re as bad as your father.”  
“Is that a bad thing?” Gracilynn says grumpily, walking over to the kitchen table and slouching in one of the chairs.   
“In this case, yes,” Bobby replies, looking at her upset face. He sighs, “You know damn well why you can’t go.”  
“Age should have nothing to do with it,” Gracilynn grumbles.   
“You know that’s not the real reason your daddy said you couldn’t go. That place is gonna to be crawlin’ with demons and Cas can’t get in to help them. It’s not safe,” Bobby says, earning a glare from Gracilynn.   
“I’m not incompetent. I can help,” Gracilynn argues. Bobby smirks.  
“Does your daddy know your usin’ those kinda words?” he asks.   
“Uncle Bobby,” Gracilynn says in warning. Bobby shakes his head.  
“Listen, all I’m sayin’ is your daddy doesn’t wanna lose you and he ain’t gonna put you in harms way if he doesn’t hafta,” Bobby says.  
“He can’t protect me forever ya know,” Gracilynn argues back.  
“No,” Ellen says, smiling gently and putting a hand up to halt Bobby, “But he’ll learn to give you room to stretch your wings. Take it from someone who has a daughter a lot like you. Whether Dean Winchester wants to or not, he’ll have to learn to at least do that.”  
“Are we talking about the same Dean Winchester?” Gracilynn asks, earning a chuckle from both Ellen and Bobby. A phone begins to ring and Bobby pulls out his cell phone and answers it.  
“You idjits get it?” he says into the phone, “Good.”  
Bobby listens for a moment and then smirks, looking over at Gracilynn.  
“Yeah, hold on,” he says, moving the bottom part of the phone away from his mouth. “Your daddy says to stop complainin’ and look up any info you can find about Carthage, Missouri.”  
“Dude! Research duty! First, I have to stay here and now he’s putting me on research duty?!” Gracilynn exclaims. Bobby snorts and starts talking into the phone again.  
“Ya hear that?” Bobby asks Dean. He listens for a moment and chuckles glancing at Gracilynn in the process, noticing her standing up with her arms crossed, chuckling a little more as Dean had just said she was probably standing exactly that way. “Yeah, sounds good. See ya soon.”  
Bobby hangs up the phone and puts it on the table. He turns and looks over at Gracilynn who hasn’t changed her position all that much. He shakes his head and smiles to himself.  
“Your daddy says if you don’t knock it off he’ll put ya on research duty for the next month,” Bobby says firmly.   
“Awesome,” Gracilynn says, “That won’t last long. He’ll prolly be dead by then anyway.”  
Gracilynn turns around and all but stomps over to her uncle’s computer back and begins setting up the laptop. Bobby watches her with a raised eyebrow. He looks over at Ellen who has a matching expression.  
“She really isn’t this cranky usually,” Bobby says quietly, “She’s so much like her father it’s scary. I don’t know where this is coming from.”  
“I think I might,” Ellen replies just as quietly. Bobby looks at her curiously. “You say she’s a lot like Dean?”  
“Yeah,” Bobby answers, not sure where she’s going with this.  
“What does Dean do when he’s scared?” Ellen asks.  
“He gets angry,” Bobby says, “But what…”  
“Exactly what she said,” Ellen says, cutting Bobby off, “She’s scared he’s going to die going after the damn devil. He and Sam are the only family she’s got?”  
“Yeah,” Bobby says, understanding the sudden mood change, glancing over at Gracilynn looking intently at the computer screen and pushing buttons. Those boys had better live through this. For Gracilynn’s sake. And his. 

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Sam and Dean are sitting on opposite sides of Bobby’s desk, each with a beer bottle. Gracilynn is lying on the couch listening to her ipod.   
“It’s gotta be a trap right?” Sam asks, looking over at Gracilynn to make sure she can’t hear them.   
“Sam Winchester, having trust issues with a demon. Well, better late than never,” Dean answers, glancing at Gracilynn to make sure himself.  
“Thank you again for your continued support,” Sam says.  
“You’re welcome,” Dean replies as they clink beer bottles together.  
“You know, trap or no trap, we got a snowball's chance, we gotta take it, right?” Dean says, still eyeing Gracilynn.  
“Yeah, I suppose,” Sam says as Dean looks back over at him.  
“Besides, I'm not sure it is a trap. Check it out. I mean, Carthage is lit up like a Christmas tree with Revelation omens. And look at this,” Dean says, pushing the papers Gracilynn found for them, “There's been six missing persons reported, in town, since Sunday. I think the devil's there.”  
“Okay,” Sam says.  
“Look, when you think about it...you can't come with,” Dean says, looking directly at Sam.  
“Dean,” Sam says after rolling his eyes.  
“Look, I go against Satan and screw the pooch, okay. We've lost a game piece. That we can take. But if you're there, then we are handing the devil's vessel right over to him. That's not smart,” Dean says. There is a sharp intake of breath and Dean’s eyes automatically go over to Gracilynn. Sam catches on and turns his head to look at his niece as well. They watch her for a minute but there is no other movement or sound coming from her. Dean narrows his eyes.   
“Since when have we ever done anything smart?” Sam asks, still watching his niece.  
“I’m serious Sam,” Dean says, finally looking over at his brother.  
“So am I,” Sam replies, looking back at Dean. “Haven't we learned a damn thing? If we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it together.”  
They look at each other for a long moment. Dean looks away first, resting his gaze on his daughter. He watches her, thinking for a moment.  
“Okay,” he says, “But it’s a stupid friggin’ idea.”  
Dean looks past Sam, his attention being caught by Cas, Ellen, and Jo. Sam turns and looks himself.  
“Boy, talk about stupid ideas,” Sam says.  
“Good God. True that,” Dean says, eyeing Jo. He gets up and goes over to the refrigerator where she is rummaging, her butt prominent. Sam smirks, shaking his head, his attention turning back to his niece. He knows she heard their conversation and if he knows, Dean definitely knew. He walks over to the couch and, lifting up her legs sits down, setting her legs back down on his lap, watching his brother flirt with Jo.   
“Don’t worry,” Sam whispers loud enough for her to hear, “I’ve got his back.”  
Sam looks down at his niece, seeing her eyes open, watching him. He gives her a small smile and squeezes her leg for reassurance.  
“Thanks,” she whispers back.  
“Everybody get in here! It's time for the lineup. Usual suspects in the corner,” Bobby calls from the adjoining room.   
“Oh come on, Bobby. Nobody wants their picture taken,” Ellen says, coming into the room.  
“Here, here,” Sam says from the couch.  
“Shut up. You're drinking my beer,” Bobby counters. Castiel enters the room while Bobby finishes fiddling with the camera on the tripod. Sam sighs and pats his niece on the leg, getting up and then helping her up. Bobby wheels backwards towards the group getting situated in position, Gracilynn in front of her dad between Ellen and Jo. “Anyway, I'm gonna need something to remember your sorry asses by.”  
The whole group smiles as they finish up getting situated.   
“Ha! Always good to have an optimist around,” Ellen remarks.  
“Bobby's right. Tomorrow we hunt the devil. This is our last night on earth,” Cas says stoically. Gracilynn sucks in a sharp breath, her eyes wide, not realizing she has grabbing a hold of her dad’s shirt. Everyone else’s smiles disappear and the camera flashes.


	30. Chapter 30

Dean walks out of the back door and looks around, seeing Gracilynn lying on the hood of the Impala. He sighs and makes his way over, leaning up against the hood where her legs are. He looks out across the yard, taking everything in. Gracilynn continues to play with her sweatshirt string.   
“So, how much did you hear?” Dean asks, still looking out at the yard. He wasn’t fooling anyone, including himself. He knew Gracilynn heard his and Sam’s conversation earlier; he just didn’t know exactly how much she heard.  
“Enough,” she answers. Dean sighs. “Last I knew the most important game piece was the queen?”  
“Actually it’s the king,” Dean says.  
“Yeah, but the queen protects everyone. Protects the king,” Gracilynn argues. “You lose that and pretty much you’re screwed.”  
Dean looks to his right and studies Gracilynn for a moment. Gracilynn meets his gaze, unwavering.   
“So, what? I’m a girl now?” Dean asks, understanding exactly what his daughter is saying.  
“Metaphorically, yes,” she replies.   
“So, you’re the king?” Dean asks.  
“Nope, Uncle Sam is,” Gracilynn answers. Dean gives her a curious look. “He can take care of himself but he’ll always need the queen around to support him.”  
“Oh, really?”  
“Yup,” Gracilynn says.  
“So, what are you? A pawn?” Dean asks with a smirk.  
“Hell no. I’m more like a knight. Just when you think you’re safe, I sneak in and take ya out,” Gracilynn says with a smirk of her own. Dean gives her a knowing look. “Which in turn gets me into trouble half the time and the queen has to bale me out.”  
“Sounds about right,” Dean says, nudging her leg. Gracilynn bites her lip, watching his profile.  
“Loosing the queen is not an acceptable loss Dad,” she says seriously. “The other game pieces might be able to take it but the king and knight cannot.”  
Dean watches a chipmunk run up a tree, trying to get into its’ hole only to have another keep bopping him back out. Gracilynn watches him, waiting for him to say something.   
“I hear ya Gracie,” Dean says, “Loud and clear.”  
“Good, because the knight has no problems about taking the queen out herself,” Gracilynn says. “And I’m pretty sure the king’ll back her up.”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dean says, looking at Gracilynn with a smirk, “‘Cause last I checked, the king can only move one space and the knight can only move in an L shape. I can move wherever I want.”  
“How do you know all this?” Gracilynn asks him with a smirk of her own.  
“I dated a girl back in high school whose brother was on the chess team,” Dean says off-handedly.  
Gracilynn rolls her eyes, grinning. Dean matches her grin and, ruffling her hair and gently kissing the top of her head, he heads back to the house. 

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The next morning, Gracilynn finds herself in the kitchen making eggs and toast. She looks up at the sound of footsteps and sees Ellen walk in.   
“Hey Ellen,” Gracilynn says in greeting.  
“Hey sweetheart,” Ellen replies, noticing Gracilynn making breakfast, “You want help with that?”  
“Nah, I’m good,” Gracilynn answers, biting her lip. She dumps the eggs into a full bowl and sets the pan back on the stove, turning the stove off. She turns around, leaning on the counter, and looks at Ellen. “Can I ask you to do something for me?”  
“Sure sweety what is it?” Ellen asks, curious as to what it could be. Gracilynn bites her lip but continues.  
“If it’s too much I understand,” Gracilynn says, giving her an out if she needs it.   
“Why don’t you just tell me what it is first,” Ellen replies.   
“Make sure my dad and uncle get back okay,” Gracilynn says. Ellen watches her for a moment. “I just…”  
“You just what?” Ellen asks.  
“They tend to take more risks when I’m not there and…” Gracilynn starts, taking a deep breath, “And I need them to come back safe.”  
Ellen watches Gracilynn for a moment, seeing her war with the emotions, finally shoving them back down and begging her with her eyes. Ellen sighs resignedly and looks Gracilynn dead in the eyes.  
“I’ll do everything I can to bring those boys back safe,” she finally says. Gracilynn smiles slightly.  
“Thanks Ellen,” she says. They both look up, hearing more footsteps come down the stairs. Dean and Sam walk in to the kitchen and notice all the food. Dean’s face lights up.  
“Dude, eggs and toast? You make bacon too?” he asks.  
“It’s on the plate,” Gracilynn says, nodding to the plate next to her that’s covered with a paper towel.   
“You’re awesome,” Dean says, grabbing an empty and beginning to pile the food onto it.  
“I know,” Gracilynn says as Jo walks in with Bobby wheeling in behind her.   
“Thanks Shorty,” Sam says, giving her a slight hug.  
“Anytime Stretch,” Gracilynn replies, smirking.   
An hour and a half later and the group are done with breakfast and have loaded up their cars. Cas appeared about halfway through breakfast and was going with them. Gracilynn and Bobby follow them to the door, Ellen and Jo saying their goodbyes and heading out to their car. Dean and Sam are off to the side talking to Bobby so Gracilynn walks over to Cas who is standing by the door.   
“Hey Cas,” she says.  
“Hey Gracilynn,” he replies. Gracilynn looks over towards her dad and uncle.  
“Bring them back safe Cas,” Gracilynn says, only looking over at Cas when she’s done talking.  
“I really don’t think any of us are coming back Gracilynn,” Cas says solemnly. Gracilynn frowns.  
“Settle my nerves would ya. Just say ‘I will’,” Gracilynn says.   
“Okay. I will,” Cas replies.   
“Yeah, keep working on your delivery angel boy,” Gracilynn replies. Dean and Sam walk over.  
“Cas you can ride with Ellen and Jo,” Dean says.  
“Of course,” Cas says, disappearing and then reappearing in the back seat of the jeep, causing both woman to jump slightly. Dean and Sam turn around and look at Gracilynn, who is forcing a smile.  
“I know asking you two to come home unharmed is asking a lot so just do me a favor and come home not dead okay,” Gracilynn says, forcing another smile.  
“We’ll see you tomorrow Gracie,” Dean says, giving his daughter a hug which she returns. Dean walks away and Sam gives her a small smile and a hug. Gracilynn returns it, hoping they’ll make it back okay. 

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

It had been hours since Dean and the rest of the group left that morning. It was now late afternoon and Bobby and Gracilynn hadn’t heard anything from any of them. Dean had said they would call to let them know what they found but, obviously, something had happened. Gracilynn was sitting at the desk while Bobby kept trying to reach her dad on the phone with no such luck.   
“The number you dialed is unavailable. Please try your call again,” says the voice on the phone.  
“Damn it boys,” Bobby says, hanging up the phone once again. He glances over at Gracilynn who is watching him, worry evident on her face. They both hear static coming from the room Gracilynn is in and Bobby wheels over from the kitchen. He moves a book off of a CB radio and the sound gets louder.   
“K C 5 Fox Delta Oscar, come in,” Dean voice sounds from the radio. Gracilynn’s ears perk up at hearing her dad’s voice. Bobby picks up the mouthpiece as Gracilynn gets up out of her seat and walks over.  
“K C 5 Fox Delta Oscar, go ahead,” Bobby says in to the mouthpiece.  
“Bobby, its Dean. We got problems,” Dean says, sounding desperate. Bobby sighs and looks heavenward.   
“It's okay, boy. That's why I'm here,” Bobby replies, glancing at Gracilynn standing next to him. “Is everyone all right?”  
“No,” Dean says around a lump in his throat. Gracilynn bites her lip. “It's—it's—it's Jo. Bobby, it's pretty bad.”  
“Okay. Copy that. So now we figure out what we do next,” Bobby says forcing himself to keep calm.  
“Bobby, I don't think she's…” Dean says, trailing off.   
“I said what do we do next, Dean?” Bobby asks, trying to get Dean refocused in the horrendous circumstance.  
“Right. Okay, right,” Dean says, forcing himself to calm down.  
“Now, tell me what you got,” Bobby says.

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“Before he went missing, did Cas say how many reapers?” Bobby asks, looking through a book. Gracilynn is sitting next to him, looking through another book. She had kept quiet for most of the conversation.  
“I don't—he said a lot of things, I guess. Does the number matter?” Dean says.  
“Devil's in the details, Dean,” Bobby says. There is a moments’ pause before a new voice comes in over the radio.  
“Bobby, it's Ellen. The way he was looking, the number of places Castiel's eyes went, I'd say we're talking over a dozen reapers, probably more,” Ellen says. Gracilynn stops looking through her book and stares at the radio.  
“I don't like the sound of that,” Bobby says.   
“Nobody likes the sound of that, Bobby, but what…wh…what does that sound like?” Dean’s voice comes over the radio again.  
“It sounds like death, son. I think Satan's in town to work a ritual,” Bobby says, turning some pages in his book to one that’s marked with a post it that says ‘seventh seal’. “I think he’s planning to unleash death.”  
“You mean, like, as in this dude and taxes are the only sure thing?” Dean asks.  
“As in Death. The horseman. The pale rider in the flesh,” Bobby reiterates.  
“Unleash? I mean, hasn't Death been tromping all over the place? Hell, I've died several times myself,” Dean says. Gracilynn bites her lip.  
“Not this guy. This is—this is the angel of death. Big daddy reaper. They keep this guy chained in a box six hundred feet under. Last time they hauled him up, Noah was building a boat. That's why the place is crawling with reapers. They're waiting on the big boss to show,” Bobby explains.  
“You have any other good news?” Dean asks, annoyed at the situation. Bobby looks over at Gracilynn who nods her head.  
“In a manner of speaking,” Bobby says, then before he hands the mouthpiece to Gracilynn, “Here.”  
“Hey, dad,” Gracilynn says.  
“Hey Gracie,” Dean says in return, softening his voice.  
“Um…yeah, we’ve been researching Carthage since you've been gone, trying to figure out what the devil might want there. What you just said drops the last piece of the puzzle in place. The angel of death must be brought into this world at midnight through a place of awful carnage. Now, back during the Civil War, there was a battle in Carthage. A battle so intense the soldiers called it the Battle of Hellhole,” Gracilynn says, reading out of a leather-bound Holy Bible.   
“Where'd the massacre go down?” Dean asks. Gracilynn reads a little further before answering.  
“On the land of William Jasper's farm,” Gracilynn answers.


	31. Chapter 31

“They’re coming back right Uncle Bobby?” Gracilynn asks the next morning. It was early; before sunup. They hadn’t heard from Dean or Sam since the call on the CB radio the night before. Bobby looks up from the book he was looking at and looks at her for a second. God, he hoped he’d never see that look again. It was the same look Dean gave him when he was younger. The same one Sam gave Dean. The one that said, “I’m scared as hell and I need you to tell me everything’s going to be okay.”   
“They’ll be here,” Bobby says with as much conviction as he can muster. Gracilynn nods her head but doesn’t say anything else. Bobby watches her for another second. “You hungry? It’s early but I can start making breakfast.”  
“Nah, I’m fine,” Gracilynn says, “I’m just gonna go for a walk. Call me if you hear anything.”  
“All right kid,” Bobby says as Gracilynn walks out of the room and out the back door. He wasn’t too worried; He knew exactly where she was going. 

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Gracilynn throws another rock into the pond, watching it skip across the top of the water. It’s not that she didn’t want to be around Uncle Bobby, but…well, she didn’t want to be around him. She didn’t want to be around anyone; she needed some time to herself to think. She sighs to herself and walks back to the willow tree and sits down, resting her back against it. She rests the back of her head on the trunk and closes her eyes. She had been out here for a few hours and Uncle Bobby hadn’t called her yet. She would’ve thought her dad or uncle would’ve called them by now; at least to let them know they were okay. Unless… Gracilynn quickly pushes the thought back down and focuses on the sound of the water lapping against the ground. Her eyebrows furrow, noticing the sound of the water sounded odd. She listens carefully and realizes she was hearing something else on top of the water. A low rumble, barely audible, but there either way. It sounded like… Gracilynn’s eyes fling open. It sounded like a car in a hurry. A classic car. One she knows very well. She leaps off the ground and plows through the Willow tree branches, ripping them off her when she gets tangled in her urgency. She bolts towards the house, reaching the back of it as the noise dissipates. She stops in her tracks and she hears a set of car doors open and close almost simultaneously. She grins and rushes to the front of the house, rounding the corner and sliding to a halt. Her dad and uncle were standing on either side of the Impala looking heartbroken towards Bobby. She could hear him sigh dejectedly from here. She looked around and didn’t see Ellen or Jo but Cas was standing off on the side. She knew she should feel bad that something had happened to Ellen and Jo, but looking back at her dad and uncle, right now she was happy they were back okay. There was time to be depressed after she saw them; however, she felt her smile falter at the thought of the two of them being hurt, or worse.   
Her dad must’ve sensed her looking at them because he turned to look at her, trying his hardest to give her a smile. Gracilynn felt the tears well up, but angrily pushed them back. No way was she going to start crying like a little baby. She gives her dad a smile and runs towards him, jumping into his arms. Dean catches her easily, returning the bear hug with one of his own. Dean kisses the top of her head and Gracilynn pulls away, wiping away a couple of the stubborn tears quickly before he dad sees them. She looks behind her dad and sees her uncle. She smiles and skirts around the Impala, lunging into his arms as well. Sam catches her with a little difficulty, not expecting the same reaction as she had with Dean but covers quickly returning the hug. Gracilynn pulls away as Cas and Dean walks over to join the group. Gracilynn shoots Cas a grin as well, walking over and giving him a hug. Cas is taken off-guard, not knowing what to do as well as not knowing why she was hugging him. He gives Dean a “What-do-I-do” look and only receives a slight chuckle. Cas looks down at Gracilynn as she pulls away, smiling at him.  
“Thanks Cas,” Gracilynn says and then turns back to her dad and uncle, not wanting to ask, but needing to. “The devil?”  
Dean shares a look between Sam as well as Cas and Bobby. Gracilynn feels her stomach drop. She looks to each of them, trying to read any of their faces, her look finally resting back on her dad. He sighs and shakes his head. Gracilynn bites her bottom lip.  
“Ellen and Jo?” she asks, already knowing the answer but needing to hear it out loud. Dean forces a swallow around the lump in his throat and shakes his head again. Gracilynn nods her head, looking down at the ground. She looks back up at her dad, giving him the same look she gave Bobby earlier. “Now what?”  
Dean clenches his jaw. He hated that look. He hated it when Sammy gave it to him when he was younger and even now. And he hated it when Gracie gave it to him. Especially when he had no clue what to do. He looks to the ground thinking for a second before looking back up at his daughter.  
“We find another way and we fight like hell,” Dean says. Looking at all of them, his eyes landing back on Gracilynn, he adds, “Together.”

SNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSNSN

Sam, Dean, Gracilynn, and Bobby are all gathered around the fireplace in Bobby’s study. Bobby is holding a copy of the picture taken yesterday. Gracilynn is standing between Dean and Sam. The TV is on in the background.   
“Just received an update that the governor has declared a state of emergency for Paulding County, including the towns of Marion, Fetterville, and Carthage. The storm system has reportedly touched off a number of tornadoes in the area,” the TV says. Gracilynn glances at the photograph in Bobby’s hands. She can’t help but think their death is all her fault. She heard what her dad had said. About how they sacrificed themselves so Dean and Sam could get out of there and ice the devil. She hears the TV in the background. “Death tolls have yet to be estimated, but state officials expect the loss of life and property to be staggering.”  
Bobby leans forward and drops the picture in the flames. The four of them watch as the picture burns. Gracilynn feels tears well up again and she wipes them away angrily. She feels a hand on either shoulder and she looks on either side of her seeing her dad and uncles’ hands. They didn’t look at her, their eyes fixed on the picture, but she felt the gentle squeeze from both of them and that was enough. Gracilynn looks back at the burning picture hoping that maybe, one of these days, her family might actually catch a break. But then again, they were Winchesters. When did they ever catch a break.


End file.
